That’s partly why the company’s newest promotion, which it calls Internet Plus, is aimed at persuading people to sign up for broadband plus entry-level TV service. The package, $50 a month for the first 12 months, emphasizes on-demand TV by including HBO and its HBO GO streaming service as well as Comcast’s own Streampix, but it also includes broadcast television channels and a set-top box. The package gained press attention last week because it eschews the typical channel bundle and comes close to selling HBO via the Internet without any other TV service. But Comcast executives played down the significance of the move, saying that it was intended to hook new subscribers.

Aside from that promotion, Comcast’s focus is on earning more money from existing subscribers through package upgrades and rate increases. If Comcast improves its TV and Internet services, the thinking goes, happier subscribers will pay more each month. To that end, the company announced an updated app on Tuesday that will allow subscribers to watch up to 35 cable channels outside the home. This out-of-home ability has been a major point of contention between distributors like Comcast and channel owners. But Comcast is in a unique position to make progress because, as the owner of NBCUniversal, it operates a portfolio of cable channels.

NBCUniversal complicated Comcast’s earnings in the third quarter because its telecasts of the Summer Olympics last year provided a lift that was missing this year. Combined revenue for Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal was down 2.4 percent in the quarter, to $16.15 billion, though it would have been up 5.2 percent were the Olympics excluded from the year-ago comparisons. Regardless, revenue came in slightly below analysts’ estimates of $16.26 billion.

The company reported net income of $1.73 billion, or 65 cents a share, compared with $2.11 billion, or 78 cents a share, in the period last year. That comparison, too, was skewed by one-time gains last year. Its stock fell 62 cents, to $47.09, in Wednesday trading.

Brian L. Roberts, the company’s chief executive, emphasized its cash flow growth and record levels of free cash flow in a conference call with analysts. He praised the cable division for “really outstanding growth in high-speed Internet and voice and stable performance in video.” Referring to NBCUniversal, he said, “When you adjust out for the Olympics last year, this is the fourth quarter in a row of double-digit cash flow growth.”