Comcast $CMCSA is a U.S. media and telecommunications conglomerate headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It operates two primary business segments: Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, cable television, and telephone services to residential and business customers across the U.S. under the Xfinity brand; and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company Comcast acquired in stages between 2011 and 2013.
The company was founded in 1963 by Ralph J. Roberts as American Cable Systems, a small cable operator in Tupelo, Mississippi. It was renamed Comcast Corporation — a portmanteau of "communications" and "broadcast" — and grew through decades of acquisitions to become the dominant cable provider in the U.S. Ralph Roberts's son, Brian Roberts, has led the company for much of its modern era as a publicly traded corporation.
Comcast Cable is the largest cable television operator and the largest residential internet service provider in the U.S. by subscriber count. Its Xfinity brand covers home internet, cable TV, streaming, mobile wireless service, and home security products. The cable division generates the bulk of Comcast's revenue, with broadband internet as its primary growth driver as traditional cable TV subscriptions have declined across the industry.
NBCUniversal encompasses the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels including MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, and Bravo, the Universal Pictures film studio, and the Universal theme park business. Comcast also operates Sky, a European pay-television and streaming company it acquired in 2018, which serves customers primarily in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy.
