(AP)—Comcast says its fourth-quarter net income rose 18 percent, helped by improvements in its broadcast business and growth in its high-speed Internet services.

The released its fourth-quarter results Tuesday while announcing it's buying the remaining 49 percent of NBCUniversal that it didn't own for $16.7 billion. It is buying the stake from years ahead of schedule.

. says it earned $1.52 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's up from $1.29 billion, or 47 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Philadelphia-based Comcast says its revenue rose 6 percent to $15.94 billion from $15.04 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 54 cents per share on revenue of $16.01 billion.