Comcast Kicks Off Q2 Earnings Wednesday

The cable operator earnings season will officially kick off Wednesday, with Comcast reporting its second quarter results at 8:30 a.m.
Analysts are expecting the nation's largest cable operator to report smaller basic video subscriber losses - consensus is for a loss of 203,000 basic subscribers, vs. losses of 238,000 basic video customers in the same period last year.
In a research note, Canaccord Genuity media analyst Tom Eagan called for continued revenue generating unit (RGU) growth at both Comcast and Time Warner Cable (scheduled to report its Q2 results on Aug. 2), fueled by continued gains in broadband and telephony subscribers.
Programmers are also expected to report - Time Warner Inc. is scheduled to issue its Q2 results at 10:30 a.m. Aug. 1, followed on Aug. 2 by Scripps Networks Interactive (10 a.m.). DirecTV will report its quarterly results at 2 p.m. on Aug 2 and Viacom will close out the the week, reporting its fiscal third quarter results at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 3.
Analysts are expecting DirecTV to report a loss of net new customers in the period, tied to its efforts to reduce overall customer churn. But they expect the satellite giant to return to net new subscriber growth in the third quarter and beyond.