Comcast profit up on Web subscribers, NBCU ad sales

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> posted a rise in quarterly earnings on Wednesday as it added more Internet and phone customers and was boosted by strong ad sales at its NBC Universal joint venture.

The No. 1 U.S. cable operator said second-quarter net income rose to $1.02 billion, or 37 cents a share, up from $884 million, or 31 cents a share.

Excluding one-time costs, profit was 42 cents.

Adjusted earnings of 42 cents beat the average analyst forecast of 41 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 9.4 percent to $14.33 billion on a pro-forma basis.

Comcast added 144,000 high-speed Internet customers and 193,000 phone customers.

But the Philadelphia-based company lost 238,000 basic video customers as it continued to contend with competition from phone and satellite companies as well as a weak U.S. economy.

Revenue at its NBC Universal unit rose 17 percent to $5.18 billion.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Maureen Bavdek)