Comcast profit rises 17 percent in 1Q

NEW YORK — Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company and owner of NBCUniversal, on Wednesday said its net income rose 17 percent in the latest quarter, powered by continued strong results from its cable operations.

Price increases on cable TV and customers upgrading to high-definition packages and digital video recorders helped boost numbers. Subscribers paid an average of $3.40 more per month for TV compared with the same period last year.

Comcast also continued to recruit new broadband and phone customers at a brisk pace, and broke above 10 million phone customers for the first time in the quarter. It's the country's fourth-largest home phone company, behind AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink.

The Philadelphia-based company's shares rose 86 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $42.17 in midday trading. At the open, they hit $42.47, near the all-time high of $42.61, hit a month ago.

Comcast earned $1.44 billion, or 54 cents per share, in the first quarter. That was up from $1.22 billion, or 45 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding a gain of 3 cents per share due to the sale of some airwaves licenses to AT&T, earnings were 51 cents per share. That was a penny higher than the average forecast of analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 2.9 percent to $15.31 billion. Analysts were expecting half a percent more, at $15.38 billion.

Comcast's revenue didn't grow as fast as usual because it broadcast the Super Bowl last year, but didn't this year. Excluding that effect, revenue would have grown 4.7 percent, it said.

Comcast lost 60,000 cable-TV subscribers, breaking a trend of slowing losses. However, it's still better than smaller cable companies at keeping customers in the face of competition from satellite and phone companies. Executives said most of the losses were from households that have only cable-TV, while the company is focusing on getting customers to add broadband and phone service to capture higher monthly fees.

At NBCUniversal, revenue fell 2.4 percent compared to last year's quarter, when NBC aired the Super Bowl. CBS aired it this year. However, NBCUniversal's operating cash flow, a measure of profitability, rose. It was helped by the success of "Les Miserables" theaters, but was held back compared to last year by the later launch of the latest season of hit TV show "The Voice" as compared to last year.

As of March, Comcast owns all of NBCUniversal. It bought the 49 percent it didn't own from General Electric Co. for $16.7 billion. It bought it initial stake in 2011 and was planning to buy the rest over time, but announced in January that it was buying out GE years ahead of schedule.

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Report shows persistence of TV violence

NEW YORK — Violence has shown no signs of disappearing from prime-time television.

A study of nearly 400 prime-time scripted programs finds that even in the sensitive period directly following the Connecticut school shooting, there were plenty of shootings, stabbings and beat-downs on TV. Violence was seen in nearly half of the shows.

The portrayals of violence cited by the Parents Television Council also include the cartoonish -- such as Homer strangling Bart for mouthing off on "The Simpsons."

Others examples cited by the council between Jan. 11 and Feb. 11 are much more gory.

The parents' group says it found not only an increase in gore from other studies it has conducted over 18 years, but a greater specificity and darkness to the violence.

Broadcast networks find themselves competing with cable networks that are able to be more explicit in what they show.

Jim Dyke, executive director of TV Watch, says it's unfair for a group like the PTC to study broadcast violence and not include what's on cable. TV Watch is a Washington-based advocacy group that opposes government involvement in television programming.

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T-Mobile US stock jumps in debut trading

NEW YORK — Wall Street gave T-Mobile US Inc., the new-born combination of T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS, a warm welcome on its first day of trading.

The stock was at $16.45 in midday trading Wednesday, up 87 cents, or 5.5 percent, from the value of MetroPCS shares at Tuesday's close. That suggests the combined company is attracting new investor interest.

The deal was structured as a reverse merger. The larger T-Mobile USA, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG and thus lacked its own stock listing, was "acquired" by the smaller MetroPCS Communications Inc. and inherited its stock listing. However, Deutsche Telekom owns 74 percent of the new, combined company.

The stock is trading under a new ticker symbol, "TMUS," on the New York Stock Exchange.

Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Niknam started coverage on Wednesday with a "Buy" rating and a $22 price target. Deal-making in the U.S. wireless industry is at a fever pitch, and Niknam believes Deutsche Telekom would be willing to sell its stake in the company.

AT&T Inc. tried to buy T-Mobile USA in 2011 with an offer much higher than the current market value, but the deal fell through because of opposition from regulators. Satellite-TV company Dish Network Corp. last month launched an unsolicited bid for No. 3 wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp., but Sprint has already agreed to sell to Softbank Corp. of Japan. There is speculation that T-Mobile could be Dish's next target, if the Sprint offer is rebuffed.

T-Mobile, the No. 4 U.S. cellphone carrier, is adding 9 million MetroPCS customers to its own 34 million. The combined company will still lag No. 3 Sprint Nextel Corp. in size.

No immediate changes are expected for customers of either company, and T-Mobile plans to keep the "MetroPCS" brand. Over the next two years, however, the company will shut down MetroPCS's network, which means MetroPCS phones will eventually stop working. T-Mobile will use the space freed up on the airwaves to boost its own coverage and data speeds.

In March, T-Mobile dropped its conventional two-year service contracts in favor of selling phones with installment plans. It's made the change a centerpiece of its marketing, calling itself the "Un-carrier." It's a break with industry practices, and a reflection of the fact that T-Mobile has had a hard time attracting people to its contract-based plans. It has been losing customers from these plans for two years.

MetroPCS, meanwhile, started losing customers last year after many years of growth. It sells cheap phone service to low-income urban customers, who often line up in its stores to pay their monthly fees in cash.

MetroPCS shareholders got $4.05 in cash and half a TMUS share for each MetroPCS share.

MetroPCS's board agreed to sell to T-Mobile in October, but shareholders and shareholder advisory firms called the offer inadequate. T-Mobile improved its bid three weeks ago by reducing the amount of debt it would transfer to the new company and lowering the interest rate on the debt. The improved offer won shareholder approval last week.

The new company is worth $11.8 billion at Wednesday's prices, and Deutsche Telekom's stake is worth $9 billion. As such, it's a consolation prize compared to the $39 billion that AT&T agreed to pay two years ago.

The combined company's president and CEO is John Legere, and T-Mobile is keeping its headquarters in Bellevue, Wash. Former MetroPCS Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer J. Braxton Carter will serve as CFO, and the company is retaining a "significant presence" at MetroPCS's old headquarters in Richardson, Texas.

It will have 11 board members, including two of MetroPCS's existing directors. Deutsche Telekom deputy CEO and chief financial officer Tim Höttges will serve as chairman.

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MasterCard 1Q profit rises, but economy 'choppy'

NEW YORK — Payments processor MasterCard Inc. said that its profit and revenue rose in the first quarter as card users spent more. Profit beat the forecasts of Wall Street analysts, though revenue missed slightly and the company's stock fell in midday trading.

Company executives sketched a picture of a mixed global economy and a U.S. consumer suffering from the payroll tax hike that took effect in January. The results showed stronger growth outside the U.S. than at home, with purchases in Asia, the Middle East and Africa growing the most.

The Purchase, N.Y., company does business all over the world, and its results are a window into how people are spending — and how they're feeling about the economy — on all different income levels.

In the U.S., consumer spending was relatively strong in January after a weak holiday season, MasterCard executives said. But it slowed in February and March, and MasterCard leaders guessed that was because consumers were registering the effect of the higher payroll taxes, a result of negotiations over the federal budget in Washington.

The U.S. economy in the first quarter "was definitely very choppy," MasterCard Chief Financial Officer Martina Hund-Mejean said in an interview with The Associated Press. She expects the current quarter to be muted as well.

"We have still a very high unemployment rate, housing is just starting to get better, all the discussion in Washington about the fiscal debt — that makes people feel uncomfortable," Hund-Mejean said. "So there are a number of things that are not resolved."

CEO Ajay Banga said he was pleased that the first-quarter results met the company's own expectations, despite the "challenging economic conditions." He said U.S. consumers had also been hurt in the first quarter by high prices for food and gas, as well as winter storms in March.

Sterne Agee analyst Greg Smith described the quarter as "a slow start," with some measures of revenue lighter than he expected. Overall, though, results were in line with expectations, Smith said in a note to clients. A lower-than-expected tax rate helped, and he noted that the year-ago quarter was particular strong, meaning the company had a tough comparison to meet.

MasterCard is trying to elbow its bigger rival Visa out of the way for market share in the debit card business, but Visa has stepped up efforts to regain lost ground. Spending on MasterCard-branded debit cards rose more than spending on credit and charge cards.

MasterCard is also focusing on developing countries, where most transactions are still done in cash. The company has been expanding in the region that includes Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and signed an agreement to "explore opportunities" in China.

Purchases in Asia, the Middle East and Africa grew 20 percent over the year measured in U.S. dollars, 13 percent in Europe and almost 11 percent in Latin America. In the U.S., growth was just 4 percent.

MasterCard earned $766 million in the first three months of the year, up 12 percent from the same period a year ago, the company reported Wednesday. That worked out to $6.23 per share, beating the $6.18 per share expected, on average, by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $1.9 billion, slightly less than the $1.93 billion forecast by financial analysts who follow the company.

In midday trading, MasterCard's stock fell $12.88 to $540.05, a decline of more than 2 percent. Shares have traded between $389.90 and $552.93 in the past 52 weeks, and are up about 10 percent since the start of the year.

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US economic fears weigh on markets ahead of Fed

LONDON — With a large chunk of Europe on holiday, financial markets were muted Wednesday ahead of a policy statement from the Federal Reserve.

A couple of soft economic reports raised concerns over the state of the U.S. economy but reinforced market expectations that the Fed will persevere with its super-easy and cheap monetary policy for a bit longer than had been anticipated.

The Fed finishes its two-day meeting later Wednesday and a statement will be published with investors keen to see if there is any change in tone over the central bank's view of the economic outlook.

Wednesday's data dump will likely have strengthened the hand of the most dovish members of the Federal Open Market Committee.

First, ADP reported that private employers in the U.S. added only 119,000 jobs last month, down from March's gain of 131,000 and below market expectations for a 150,000 increase.

That was followed by a fall in the Institute for Supply Management's main manufacturing index to 50.7 in April from 51.3 in March. Though that was marginally ahead of market expectations for a fall to 50.5, the index is just above the 50 threshold that indicates an expansion in activity. Particularly concerning was a sharp fall in the employment component of the index, all the more so after the weak ADP figures and ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls data for April.

"The spring lull continues....and it is just April," said Jennifer Lee, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

As a result, U.S. shares drifted lower, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 0.4 percent at 14,774 while the S&P 500 index fell 0.4 percent to 1,591.

In Europe, there was little going on with most markets closed for the May Day holiday. Of the major indexes, only Britain's FTSE 100 was trading and it was 0.25 percent higher at 6,446.

Earlier in Asia, the yen's appreciation weighed on the Nikkei 225 index, which fell 0.4 percent to close at 13,799.35. Japan's exporters have seen their share prices shoot up over the past few weeks on the back of the yen's fall which makes their products more competitive in international markets. The U.S. data added to the dollar's soft tone and it was trading 0.3 percent at 97.14 yen.

The tone in Asia was generally subdued after a survey showed the pace of China's manufacturing growth slowed in April, raising fears of a weaker recovery in the world's second-largest economy. Chinese markets were closed though so couldn't react to the news.

Oil prices dipped following a strong run and the downbeat U.S. data, with the benchmark New York rate down $2.55 at $90.91 a barrel.

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PepsiCo pulls Mountain Dew ad after criticism

NEW YORK — PepsiCo pulled an online ad for Mountain Dew that was criticized for portraying racial stereotypes and making light of violence toward women.

In the 60-second spot developed by African-American rapper Tyler, The Creator, a battered white woman on crutches is urged by an officer to identify a suspect out of a lineup of black men. A goat character known as Felicia is included in the lineup.

The goat makes threatening remarks to the woman such as "Ya better not snitch on a player" and "Keep ya mouth shut." She eventually screams "I can't do this, no no no!" and runs away.

The word "do" is in apparent reference to the soft drink's "Dew It" slogan.

PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., apologized in a statement and said it understood how the ad could be offensive.

Jen Ryan, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo, said the company was alerted on Tuesday by its consumer relations team that some people found the ad offensive. The company immediately decided to take down the spot and was told by Tyler that he would remove it from his YouTube channel as well, she said.

The ad was never intended to air on TV, Ryan said.

A publicist for Tyler, the Creator did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. His raps have been criticized for being misogynistic and homophobic at times but he has also expressed support for the singer Frank Ocean when he revealed he was bisexual.

Mountain Dew, known for its neon yellow color and higher caffeine content, is marketed toward younger men.

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Abused disabled Iowa plant workers awarded $240M

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An Iowa jury on Wednesday awarded a total of $240 million to 32 mentally disabled Iowa turkey processing plant workers for what government lawyers described as years of around-the-clock abuse and discrimination by the Texas company that oversaw their care, work and lodging.

The federal jury in Davenport determined that Henry's Turkey Service, of Goldthwaite, Tex., violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by creating a hostile living and working environment and imposing discriminatory conditions of employment. The jury also found that the company acted with "malice or reckless indifference" to the men's civil rights.

Jurors awarded each of the men $7.5 million apiece after a weeklong trial that featured emotional testimony from social workers who described the physical and verbal abuse they suffered. That includes $5.5 million apiece in compensatory damages for their pain and suffering and $2 million apiece to punish the company for knowingly violating the law.

The company, which is now defunct, is not expected to be able to pay anywhere near the full amount of damages. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has suggested it will go after the defunct company's assets, including up to $4 million that was transferred to founder T.H. Johnson's widow after he died in 2008.

The employees lived at a rural Iowa bunkhouse under Henry's care while they worked at the West Liberty Foods turkey processing plant, which paid Henry's to supply them under a contract that dated to the 1970s. West Liberty Foods is not accused of any wrongdoing. Company officials said they banned a Henry's supervisor from the plant in 2007 after learning he had abused the men, but were otherwise unaware of problems.

The EEOC sued Henry's after state officials shuttered the bunkhouse in 2009 because of unsafe and unsanitary conditions there, including fire hazards, shoddy construction, a leaky roof, and a rodent infestation. State officials then found new caretakers for the men, many of whom were in their 50s and 60s and had medical problems that needed immediate attention.

"This was pervasive, 24/7, in every way," EEOC attorney Robert Canino said in his closing argument.

According to social workers who treated them after the home was shuttered, the men said they had been subjected to harsh discipline and abuse at home and work by their Henry's supervisors. They said they had been forced to work through illness and injuries, denied bathroom breaks, locked in their rooms, kicked in the groin and, in one case, handcuffed to a bed. Supervisors also subjected the men to random acts of cruelty, such making them eat hot peppers, "just for laughs," Canino said.

By 2008, Henry's was being paid more than $500,000 per year by West Liberty Foods, but was paying the men the same $65 per month that it always had, regardless of how many hours they worked. The company docked the men's wages and Social Security disability benefits, telling them it was to pay for the cost of their care and lodging.

A judge has already ordered Henry's to pay the men more than $1.3 million in back wages in the case. Henry's never applied for medical care or other services for the disabled that the men would have qualified for in Iowa.

The Iowa Attorney General's Office has declined to prosecute anyone responsible for the abuse, saying it is unlikely that criminal charges could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

___

Follow Ryan J. Foley on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rjfoley

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EBay monitoring listings of Boston Marathon medals

EBay says it is monitoring listings to ensure nobody uses the auction website to profit from the Boston Marathon bombings.

Jonathan Resnick's medal is for sale on the site and proceeds will go directly to charity.

He said he read on a runners' discussion board that medals were being sold and realized "it was the least I could do to make something good from something bad."

The winning bid for Resnick's medal will go to the American Red Cross of Eastern Massachusetts through eBay's program for charitable giving.

EBay says its policy "does not allow listings that graphically portray, glorify or attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering."

Boston Athletic Association President Tom Grilk says: The one thing I am sure of is that I am in no position to evaluate or judge anybody's reaction to the horror or all of this. People will react as they do, and it's not for me to say."

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1st Chinese automaker in US to open Calif. plants

LOS ANGELES — The first Chinese-owned vehicle manufacturer in the United States plans to build electric buses and batteries at plants in the Mojave Desert.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris and officials of BYD Automotive scheduled a news conference Wednesday to announce details of the plan for facilities in the high-desert city northeast of Los Angeles.

BYD, which opened its North American headquarters in Los Angeles in 2010, says the plant will initially turn out 10 electric buses for the city of Long Beach. It expects the vehicles, with a range of 150 miles between charges, to be delivered next year. In April, the Long Beach Transit Authority awarded BYD a $12.1 million contract for the zero-emission buses, a company statement said.

One of the world's largest manufacturers of rechargeable batteries, BYD got into the automobile business 10 years ago. It has been looking to expand into the U.S. market for some time.

Although China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest auto market, Chinese manufacturers have seen domestic sales inhibited by the popularity of cars from the United States and Japan and are looking to expand elsewhere.

"It's well known that Chinese manufacturers have been eyeing the North American market for years," said U.S. auto industry analyst Michael Robinet, managing director of IHS Automotive of Northville, Mich.

"It's probably the most important market from their perspective," he added.

But it's not an easy one to crack, he said, thanks to the need to establish a dealership network, fluctuations in international currency and the volatility and competitiveness of the market itself. So it makes sense, Robinet added, that to try to gain a foothold here BYD would be looking at building its vehicles on American soil as a means of controlling price and quality.

At one point BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, had hoped to introduce its e6 model electric passenger cars to the U.S. by 2010. It has since pushed those plans back.

Since it was founded with 20 employees in 1995, the company has grown to employ 150,000 people across China and in offices in Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Among its investors is U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett.

Company officials didn't immediately say how many people they expect the Lancaster plant to employ, saying only that it could be "hundreds" in the years ahead. Its North American headquarters has about 40 people.

For Lancaster, the announcement continues a partnership between the city and BYD that began in 2010 when Parris brought the Chinese company and Southern California homebuilder KB Homes together to build an all-solar-powered prototype house.

Parris, a proponent of green energy programs, successfully pressed the City Council earlier this year to adopt an ordinance requiring that beginning in 2014 all new homes come with a solar energy system.

The flamboyant mayor, better known nationally for opening Council meetings with a prayer, shutting down a hotel where a motorcycle gang was to meet and requiring pit bulls be castrated, is also a long-time advocate of developing local trade relations with China.

In 2010 he visited BYD's Solar Village in Shenzen. That same year he also persuaded the City Council to hire a Hong Kong native as Lancaster's first China trade liaison.

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AP's John Daniszewski named to Pulitzer board

NEW YORK — John Daniszewski, a top editor and vice president at The Associated Press with decades-long experience covering international news, has been named to the Pulitzer Prize Board, which awards the most prestigious prizes in journalism.

Columbia University, which oversees the prizes, made the announcement Wednesday.

"I am delighted and honored to join the board and look forward to the opportunity to participate in the review of so much tremendous work in journalism and the fine arts," Daniszewski said.

Daniszewski was named in 2009 as AP's vice president and senior managing editor for international news, overseeing more than 500 editors and reporters around the world. He has spent more than 30 years in journalism, and has covered news in more than 70 countries.

Daniszewski, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, joined the AP in 1979 and went overseas to Poland in 1987. In 1993, he was named as bureau chief in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He left the AP in 1996 for the Los Angeles Times, serving as bureau chief in Cairo, Moscow and London, and remaining in Baghdad during the Iraq war to cover the U.S. invasion. He returned to AP as international editor in 2006 and was named a managing editor in 2007.

In his current role, Daniszewski has played a major part in the AP's opening of a bureau in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2012, the first full-time bureau from a Western news organization.

The Pulitzer board is made up of 19 members, two of whom are non-voting. Members serve up to nine years, in three-year terms.

Daniszewski replaces Steve Coll, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who will become a non-voting member of the board when he takes over as the dean of Columbia's journalism school.

AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll served on the board from 2003 to 2012.

The Pulitzers are given out annually for journalism as well as the arts. This year's winners were announced in April. The prizes will be awarded May 30.

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