Overall, growth at Comcast's broadband, business services and advertising divisions in the second quarter helped offset more modest revenue gains at the cable distributor's video subscription business.
In addition, satellite TV providers like DirecTV and Dish Network continue to lag the cable TV companies in their ability to offset program cost increases by selling their customers increasingly faster broadband services, per The Wall Street Journal.
Some telecom experts say that broadband is the most profitable service offered by phone and cable companies, and they are simply trying to offset declining revenue from their traditional phone business.
Rising fees from cable and satellite companies and higher ad revenue at the TV networks offset revenue declines at the movie studio and magazine businesses.