Media earnings are heating up Wednesday with the nation's largest cable provider and the parent of the nation's highest-rated broadcaster reporting the last quarter's results.
Comcast (CNBC's parent company) will announce before the bell. The cable giant is on track to benefit from growth of its broadband business, improved ratings for NBC and box-office hits such as "Fast and Furious 6." The company's pay-TV subscribers are expected to decline; the question is just how sharp that decline is.
Wall Street analysts expect Comcast's revenue to be up 5 percent, to $16 billion, while earnings per share are projected to grow 27 percent, to 63 cents. But the subscriber numbers are just as important. Citi analyst Jason Bazinet projected the addition of 120,000 broadband and 100,000 voice subscribers, with basic-cable subscribers falling by 150,000.