Comcast (CMCSA) is suffering from a fleeing customer problem. The telecom giant is losing a startling number of customers after it recently implemented a series of price increases that contributed to a significant revenue decline.
In Comcast’s first-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that while it lost 427,000 cable TV customers, mainly due to the growing cord-cutting trend, it also lost a whopping 199,000 broadband customers, higher than analysts were expecting.
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As customers cut the cord on cable and internet services, Comcast’s net income declined by 12.4% year-over-year.
Related: DirecTV cuts back a major service as consumers switch gears
While Comcast faces challenges in its cable and internet business, its streaming service, Peacock, is blossoming.
During the quarter, Peacock revenue increased by 16% year-over-year as the number of paid subscribers reached 41 million.
Comcast’s change to the Peacock streaming service may not sit well with subscribers.
Image source: Comcast/TheStreet
Comcast plans a controversial change
Despite the recent increase in demand and revenue, Comcast has decided to make a controversial change to Peacock, which launched in 2020.
Peacock subscribers will soon have to cough up more money to stream “Love Island USA” and other popular shows on the platform. The platform’s subscription plans are about to undergo a $3 price increase, its biggest price increase ever, according to a recent report from Vulture.
Starting July 23, Peacock’s ad-supported Premium plan will increase from $7.99 to $10.99 per month, and its Premium Plus plan will climb from $13.99 to $16.99 per month.
The price increase will make Peacock’s ad-supported Premium plan cost $1 more per month than Disney+, Max, and Hulu with ads.
Related: Comcast announces a big change to win back frustrated customers
To lessen the blow of the price hike, Peacock will also reportedly begin testing a new subscription tier called Peacock Select. For $7.99 a month, it will feature TV shows from NBC and Bravo, and “a broad assortment of library titles.”
During an earnings call in April, Comcast CEO Mike Cavanagh said the company will focus on improving Peacock’s monetization going forward.
“As the future rolls in, and we look to monetize Peacock and NBC and Bravo, the stronger the portfolio, the more we deserve to command in all forms of revenue monetization,” said Cavanagh.
The upcoming price increase from Peacock comes after it raised the monthly prices of its plans by $2 last year during the summer.
Peacock customers make a major threat
Some Peacock customers took to social media platform Reddit to express frustration with the platform’s upcoming price increase.
“There are some good shows, but not enough to keep if the price goes up. I’ll cancel, then get it when there’s a deal, watch everything, then cancel again,” wrote one Peacock customer on Reddit.
“Yeah, peacock has a handful of good things to watch. But on the whole, not enough original programming to justify that price jump. I’ll be cancelling. And I flat out refuse to go to an add supported tier. So bye bye peacock,” wrote another subscriber.
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“Peacock is a service not even worth $5 a month. Increasing the price won’t help that. Not every network should have its own. I can’t wait for them to all fold and get absorbed,” said another.
Peacock’s latest price increase can very well push customers to click the cancel button in large numbers.
According to a survey from digital security firm All About Cookies, 84% of people have canceled a streaming subscription in the past, and 44% of the survey’s respondents said that price hikes pushed them to make this decision.
Peacock’s move can be especially risky, since it is facing a growing threat: free streaming platforms, which are becoming more popular among consumers.
Paramount, which owns PlutoTV, revealed during an earnings call in May that PlutoTV “delivered its highest consumption ever” during the first quarter of 2025.
That same month, Fox also revealed during an earnings call that its free ad-supported streaming platform Tubi faced “accelerating growth” during the same quarter.
Related: Spectrum struggles to reverse alarming customer behavior