COVID-19 Could Have 'Material Adverse Impact,' Comcast Says; S&P Sees Big Olympics Hit
COVID-19 could have "a material adverse impact" on company operations over the near to medium term, Comcast said in an SEC filing Tuesday. The impact led to the closing of theme parks, delayed theatrical distribution of films, and disrupted creation…
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and availability of film advertising during TV programming. The pandemic's effects on Sky come atop what had already been a declining economy and ad market in Europe, Comcast said. It said the pandemic also likely will affect its cable residential and business services customer base due to economic stresses. The company said the scope of the virus-related business hit "will generally depend on the extent of governmental measures affecting day to day life and the length of time that such measures remain in place." S&P said the effect of the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games -- for which Comcast's NBC had the U.S. rights -- will be spread across the company's broadcast and cable networks and TV stations, since most outlets were to air games. It said total revenue from the 2016 Rio games was $1.6 billion, including nearly $1.2 billion in ads. It said NBC indicated earlier this month it had received more than $1.25 billion in commitments, selling about 90% of the inventory for national ads, and those results were about 6% above 2016 games. The debt ratings firm said other effects on Comcast include filling its summer programing schedules for its networks and stations. The beta launch of its Peacock streaming service, to come July 15 and be tied to the Olympic programming, also could suffer, S&P wrote.