Jan 26, 2017

Comcast actually adds subscribers

Sara Fischer

Comcast's recently-announced fourth quarter earnings show the company exceeding subscription expectations. Per Bloomberg: Comcast signed up 80,000 new cable-TV customers in the fourth quarter, which analysts estimate put them just over 2,000 of what was expected.

How it happened: Investors credit Comcast's cable set-top box platform, X1 for the growth. The new box lets subscribers search cable content alongside other subscriptions, like Netflix and HBO, all in one place.

Why it matters: Comcast's subscriber surge is noteworthy given the decline in paid cable television subscriptions overall. ESPN, for example, lost over two million subscribers in 2016 alone. You can see the steady decline over the past three years below.

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Scott Rosenberg

Tech can't remember what to do in a down market

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

Wall Street's two-day-old coronavirus crash is a wakeup alarm for Silicon Valley.

The big picture: Tech has been booming for so long the industry barely remembers what a down market feels like — and most companies are ill-prepared for one.

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Sam Baker

Brace yourself for a coronavirus outbreak

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Public-health officials’ warnings about the coronavirus are sounding increasingly urgent, with one top CDC official asking the public yesterday "to prepare for the expectation that this might be bad."

Reality check: Other administration officials, including President Trump himself, were more subdued in their assessments. But underneath those tonal differences, the reality of the coronavirus is the same: It spreads quickly, and has already spread to many countries, making it likely to start spreading here, too.

Go deeperArrow55 mins ago - Health
Alayna Treene

Exclusive: Pro-Trump group plans post-Super Tuesday blitz on Democrats

Democratic presidential hopefuls take the debate stage in South Carolina. Photo: Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images

Pro-Trump super PAC America First Action is preparing to unleash a series of targeted, swing-state attacks on the Democrats most likely to face President Trump after Super Tuesday, people familiar with the group's plans tell me in an exclusive preview of its strategy.

The state of play: The group has been tracking favorable/unfavorable ratings in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania for 2020 candidates Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Michael Bloomberg — under the theory that if Trump wins each of these six states he would win re-election.

Go deeperArrow1 hour ago - Politics & Policy