L.A. Times Story On Comcast, Roberts And Future Of Cable

This one won't be of the slightest bit of interest to readers outside of the U.S.A, but Meg James of the Los Angeles Times has filed a terrific profile of Drive, Chip and Putt committee member and Masters website committee head Brian Roberts, who also happens to be CEO of Comcast as it bids to buy Time Warner Cable and rule American cable. If only Lucy Li knew who was announcing her name at the 18th green putting portion of the DCP!

Anyway, James' story is of interest because (A) it's a great read about the goals of Comcast, owner of Golf Channel and (B) sheds some light on the thinking of Roberts, who is a single digit handicap golfer, top-flight CEO and probably the most powerful man in American golf and sports media. (Sorry USGA, it certainly won't be Rupert in 2016!)

While I'm no fan of mega-companies like the proposed Comcast-Time Warner, the most heartening thing about Roberts is that he's a fan of innovation. That's something most CEO's hate to admit publicly because loving tech to Wall Street means loving spending money on the future, somethign they find about as vile as it gets! Yet Roberts has a nice track record of spending with the long term in mind. Bill Gates has something to do with that according to James.

Roberts credits another mogul with helping him recognize the importance of technology: Bill Gates.

The Microsoft Corp. co-founder was chastising cable executives during a 1997 industry dinner. Tech firms were concerned that the nation's existing cable lines would not support the dawning digital revolution.

Roberts politely challenged the software billionaire, saying if Gates was so bullish on the industry, then why didn't he buy 10% of all the cable companies?

A few days later, Microsoft purchased $1 billion in Comcast stock — a move that underscored the future of cable.

"He basically said, 'I believe that you will have a bigger business in data someday than you do in video,'" Roberts said. "And he was right."

Comcast now counts its high-speed Internet service as its highest-margin business. Last year, the business brought in more than $10 billion in revenue.