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Comcast history
Comcast company history timeline
From our beginnings as a single-system cable operator in Tupelo, MS in 1963, Comcast has grown into a global leader in media, entertainment and technology, driven by an entrepreneurial spirit to connect people to the moments that matter.
In 1963 Ralph J. Roberts and his brother Joe sold their interest in Pioneer Industries, a men's accessories business in Philadelphia, and were looking to invest the proceeds in a new industry.
In 1963, Ralph J. Roberts in conjunction with his two business partners, Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky, purchased American Cable Systems as a corporate spin-off from its parent, Jerrold Electronics, for United States $500,000.
In 1965, American Cable Systems purchased Storecast Corporation of America, a product placement supermarket specialist marketing firm.
In 1968, American Cable Systems purchased its first franchise of Muzak, a brand of background music played in retail stores.
The company starts to do their business as Comcast Corporation from 1969 and over the years Comcast owns a considerable number of divisions and subsidiaries that operate through different segments, such as Xfinity, NBCUniversal, SKY, Comcast Business, and Other Businesses.
Having decided that the name American Cable Systems sounded too generic for his growing company, Roberts decided in 1969 to change its name.
The company was re-incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1969, under the new name Comcast Corporation.
Predicting growth in the Muzak business, Comcast also acquired a franchise in 1970 for the service in Denver.
Comcast reorganized its operations somewhat in 1970, selling off its Florida operations to Storer Communications and forming a limited partnership to purchase Multiview Cable, a local franchise serving Hartford County in Maryland.
Comcast went public in 1972 and began to trade on the NASDAQ with the symbols CMCSA and CMCSK, for its Class A common stock and Class A special common stock, respectively.
In 1977, as chairman of the NCTA, Aaron brought many of the industry's efforts to fruition.
In 1977, HBO was first launched on a Comcast system with 20,000 customers in western Pennsylvania with a five-night free preview getting a 15% sign up rate.
By 1983 Comcast had purchased Muzak franchises in Indianapolis, Buffalo, Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Peoria, Illinois.
Expanded into the United Kingdom in 1983
The company made an important move in 1983 when, in partnership with a British gambling and entertainment enterprise, Ladbroke, it won a license to establish a cable television system in the residential suburbs of London.
In 1984, as Comcast added a cable partnership in Baltimore County and a Muzak franchise for Tyler, Texas, an important change took place in another industry.
In 1985, after purchasing cable operations in Pontiac/Waterford, Michigan, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Jones County, Mississippi, Comcast won a plum: the right to serve the densely populated northeast Philadelphia area.
In 1986 Comcast took over a cable system serving Indianapolis and purchased a 26 percent share in Group W, one of the country's largest cable companies.
In 1986, Comcast bought 26% of Group W Cable, a broadcast company, doubling its number of subscribers to 1 million.
These new commercial capabilities accelerated the growth of the Internet, which as early as 1988 had already been growing at the rate of 100 percent per year.
Turning more toward investments in other cable companies than in actual franchises, Comcast purchased a 20 percent share of Heritage Communications and a 50 percent share of Storer Communications in 1988.
Comcast also acquired American Cellular Network Corporation in 1988 for $230 million, marking the first time it became a mobile phone operator.
In February 1990, Ralph Roberts' son, Brian L. Roberts, succeeded his father as president of Comcast.
Also in 1990, after having purchased an interest in an additional franchise serving suburban London, the company's newly formed international unit won more British franchises, allowing the company to serve Cambridge and Birmingham.
Rather than allow Amcell to be swallowed up later by a larger suitor, Comcast struck a deal in 1991 with the Metromedia Company, in which it purchased that company's Metrophone cellular unit for $1.1 billion.
The new joint company, established in 1992, quadrupled Comcast's potential market to more than 7.3 million customers.
As early as 1992, Comcast had begun testing a forerunner of what eventually became known as the Sprint PCS (personal communications services) digital cellular technology, which delivered crisper sound and more security than analog cellular phone technology.
In 1993 federal legislation allowed NSF to open the NSFNET backbone to commercial users.
In cable, Comcast in 1994 acquired Maclean Hunter's United States cable operations for $1.27 billion, gaining an additional 550,000 customers.
In the early 1995 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction of PCS licenses, Sprint Spectrum was the biggest winner, gaining the rights to wireless licenses in 31 major United States markets, covering a population of 156 million.
In November 1996 Comcast acquired the cable properties of E. W. Scripps Co in a $1.575 billion stock swap.
Also in 1996, Comcast formed Comcast Spectacor, which became owner of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Comcast offered internet connection for the first time in 1996, with its part in the launch of the @Home Network.
Comcast then leveraged these ownership interests into establishing Comcast SportsNet, a 24-hour regional cable sports channel, which debuted in the fall of 1997 and featured telecasts of Flyers, 76ers, and Philadelphia Phillies (major league baseball) games, in addition to other sports programming.
In 1997, Microsoft invested $1 billion in Comcast, and the company launched its digital TV service.
Comcast's cable acquisitions in 1997 were Jones Intercable, Inc. with 1 million customers, and a stake in Prime Communications with 430,000 subscribers.
Meanwhile, in January 1998, Comcast acquired GlobalCom Telecommunications, a regional long-distance service provider.
In February 1998, Comcast sold its U.K. division to NTL for US$600 million, along with the division's $397 million in debt.
In November 1999, Comcast purchased Lenfest Communications, who were the ninth largest cable television operator at the time and were the largest operator in the Philadelphia area.
Also in 1999, Comcast acquired Greater Philadelphia Cablevision, and launched Comcast University as well as Comcast Interactive Capital Group.
In 1999, Comcast sold Comcast Cellular to SBC Communications for $400 million, releasing them from $1.27 billion in debt.
In 2001, Comcast announced it would acquire the assets of the largest cable television operator at the time, AT&T Broadband, for United States$44.5 billion.
In 2003, Comcast became one of the original investors in The Golf Channel.
In 2004, Comcast sold its QVC shares to Liberty Media for $7.9 billion.
In April 2005, in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Comcast acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
In April 2005, Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced plans to buy the assets of bankrupted Adelphia Cable.
In December 2005, Comcast announced the creation of Comcast Interactive Media, a new division focused on online media.
Comcast Digital Voice, launched in 2005, provides customers with telephone service plus the ability to listen to voice mail online and forward voice mails via e-mail.
In July 2006, Comcast purchased the Seattle-based software company thePlatform.
In August 2006, Comcast and Time Warner Cable dissolved a 50/50 partnership that controlled the systems in the Houston, Southwest Texas, San Antonio, and Kansas City markets under the Time Warner Cable brand.
The two companies paid a total of $17.6 billion in the deal that was finalized in the second quarter of 2006—after the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) completed a seven-month investigation without raising an objection.
On April 3, 2007, Comcast announced it would acquire the cable systems owned and operated by Patriot Media, a privately held company owned by cable veteran Steven J. Simmons, Spectrum Equity Investors and Spire Capital, that served approximately 81,000 video subscribers for $483 million.
In May 2008, Comcast purchased Plaxo for a reported $150 million to $170 million.
NBC acquires the broadcast rights to the Olympics through 2008.
Media outlets began reporting in late September 2009 that Comcast was in talks to buy NBC Universal.
Comcast won the Consumerist Worst Company In America ("Golden Poo") award in 2010.
On January 28, 2011, Comcast and General Electric complete their transaction to form NBCUniversal, LLC.
The sale was completed on January 28, 2011.
In late December 2012, Comcast decided to shed the crescent logo and added the NBC peacock symbol to their new logo.
On February 12, 2013, Comcast announced an intention to acquire the remaining 49% of General Electric's interest in NBCUniversal.
The merger completed on March 19, 2013 with the company being delisted after becoming a wholly owned subsidiary and division of Comcast.
Critics noted in 2013 that Tom Wheeler, the head of the FCC, which has to approve the deal, is the former head of both the largest cable lobbying organization, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and as largest wireless lobby, CTIA – The Wireless Association.
On February 12, 2014, the Los Angeles Times reported that Comcast sought to acquire Time Warner Cable in a deal valued at $45.2 billion.
On March 6, 2014, the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division confirmed it was investigating the deal.
Time Warner Cable and Comcast aimed to merge into one company by the end of 2014 and both have praised the deal, emphasizing the increased capabilities of a combined telecommunications network, and to "create operating efficiencies and economies of scale".
Saturday Night Live delivered its most watched telecast in 22 years in February 2015 with its 40th Anniversary show.
In August 2015, Comcast announced to speed up Internet for low-income customers from 5 megabits per second (mbps) to 10 Mbit/s, provide free wireless routers, and will pilot an initiative to increase Internet access for low-income senior citizens.
Comcast had a market capitalization of $140.5 billion as of December 24, 2015.
The service was officially announced on April 6, 2017, as Xfinity Mobile.
On November 16, 2017, it was reported that Comcast attempted to purchase 21st Century Fox, following the news 10 days earlier that The Walt Disney Company negotiated with Fox to acquire the same assets.
On July 11, 2018, 21st Century Fox raised its bid to purchase Sky plc assets to $32.5 billion, and $18.57 a share.
On July 16, 2018, CNBC reported that Comcast was unlikely to continue its bidding war to acquire Fox from Disney in favor of Sky.
Telemundo serves as the exclusive Spanish-language broadcaster for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup™.
Universal Pictures took over distribution of DreamWorks Animation films beginning in 2019 with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World after DreamWorks Animation's deal with 20th Century Fox expired.
It would not include the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, Fox Sports, and Fox News units, all which will be spun-off into a new independent company, which is later known as the Fox Corporation since the 2019 launch.
On February 25, 2020, Comcast announced it would purchase Xumo from the Panasonic/Viant joint venture for an undisclosed sum.
In September 2020, The Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation granted HomeWorks Trenton $25,000 for its after-school activities.
Comcast named the presenting sponsor of the Team USA Champions Series through 2020 by The United States Olympic Committee.
The deal means that at the conclusion of the 2020 Games, NBC will have broadcast 11 consecutive Olympics.
By 2020 more than 120 million households in the United States had broadband Internet.
Comcast reported that third-quarter net profits in 2020 fell 37 percent to $2.02 billion from $3.22 billion the previous year, in part due to the limited capacity measures for the COVID-19 pandemic at theme parks like Universal Studios and movie theaters, with revenues falling 4.8 percent.
NBCUniversal signs a deal to extend its NFL rights package through the 2022 season.
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Comcast competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | 1983 | $122.3B | 230,000 | 3,537 |
| DISH Network | 1980 | $14.3B | 16,000 | - |
| Verizon Services Corp. | 1983 | $130.9B | 1 | 404 |
| Charter Communications | 1993 | $55.1B | 98,000 | 3 |
| CenturyLink | 1930 | $13.1B | 42,500 | 126 |
| Frontier Communications | 1935 | $5.9B | 16,200 | 77 |
| Windstream | 2006 | $5.1B | 11,080 | 137 |
Comcast history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Comcast, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Comcast. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Comcast. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Comcast. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Comcast and its employees or that of Zippia.
Comcast may also be known as or be related to American Cable Systems (1963–1969) Comcast Holdings (1969–2001), COMCAST CORP, Comcast and Comcast Corporation.