Daily. This week on the communicators. Our guest is david cohen, comcast senior and that executive Vice President appears to talk about tell medications development and regulation competition et cetera. Mr. Cohen, what is including in your portfolio at comcast . I have a great portfolio especially someone with attention and to deficit disorder. I divide my job into three buckets. Administered up as hostilities, and ill put my role as chief diversity officer as the lead responsibility, one that i am mostproud of. Then i have an external affairs bucket where i have responsibilities for the way in which the Company Presents itself externally including corporate communications, government affairs, regulatory affairs, Public Policy and a bucket of strategic responsibilities that i share with Brian Roberts and mike cavanaugh, our cfo. That is enough to keep me busy for sure. It is also enough to make my job incredibly interesting because it is true that every day when i wake up i have no idea what will come across my desk. Lets start in the strategic area. We been hearing a lot about cord cutting in the past several years. Is the current pay tv model outdated at this point . I dont think the current pay tv is outdated but i think the current pay tv model is in transition. I think that transition is something we have been focused on for a number of years and as has been the case every time when theres a competitive threat or potential Business Model change it is helping to make us a Better Company. So, just by way of example and there are a number of ways i could talk about this but just by way of example we created our engineers, our software developers, are App Developers created the x1 platform a couple of years ago which was transformed the way our customers watch television and it is a cloud based interface. What did we do last year, last year we integrated netflixinto the x1 platform. Our customers can now watch netflix through x1 and ours enhanced search capability and our incredible voice remote you can use your voice to search netflix and when you use the voice remote for example, scandal and scandal episodes come up those that are just like all the scandal episodes are available. Those that are on your dvr, those available on demand, those that are on netflix, those that you can purchase from sony which is the producer of scandal. From a Customer Perspective we are making it most convenient for customers to watch videos that they want to watch and with an x vanity video subscription. In the last few days we have announced youtube also being integrated into the x1 platform. This is the way we are adapting and we are embracing what customers want to see and trying to make it as convenient as possible for them to get access to all the video, but they want to watch. Lets bring our guest reporter in and that is tony from with longtime political reporter and he is a tech and business site. Thanks for having me. Thanks again for being here. Just to continue the conversation that we are having. Do you think ptt b and cable will look like 20, 30 years from now . Im not sure what it will look like 20 months from now. [laughter] i think that in a shorter time frame but longer than next year i think that we are evolving in a way that is consistent with our vision of what we will see. I think we are going to see a continued role for what i call Traditional Cable Television and i still think hard for me to imagine that we are live sports, the olympics, nfl football, baseball, world cup that most people are not going to want to watch those live sports on 60, 90inch Television Sets in their game room or in their living room or even in a bar or sports bar. I still think there is a role for tv news in a classic television environment. I also think there will be a continued growth in alternative sources for watching video, whether netflix or the youtubes, facebook live, we have and we have an app on the x1 platform and on smartphones and tablets called watchable which is a collection of professionally produced short form videos, news comedy entertainment. I think there will be a continued growth of a desire for people to watch video wherever they are, they wont watch all their video sitting in their homes so the ability to be able to deliver video and smart forms and tablets where people on the go will become increasingly valuable as we go along. I think will see a continued evolution. I dont know that we will see a revolution, at least in the next fiveseven years in the way in which video is delivered and the way in which video is consumed but we will continue to see movement as we have seen and we look at the attention to our College Student customers and the way they are consuming video and highspeed data and we have an x vanity on campus product which is basically a highspeed data product that includes a streaming feature with a skinny package of video for content to get their broadband through x vanity and through that subscription to get a basic package that they can watch on their laptops or smart phones or on their tablets and i think we will see more and more of an evolution of the way the customer wants to receive their video and we love the positioning that we have and being able to involve and deliver. I want to get the contents untrained comcast positioning. You mentioned sports. Im curious your thoughts as to amazon and twitter and the texth side of how theyre looking to do more with sports. You mentioned that as keeping people keeping cable in the first place. Look, i dont know whether it is a threat but every competition is not a threat. I happen to be a believer that competition makes the market work better and makes if you have new entrants competing with the incumbents and makes the incumbents better, sharper and i think there will be some potential petition for sports rights but again, you have to look at the Business Models that the amazon and facebooks might want to reply and twitter might want to repine the space. I just dont think the vast majority of americans are going to watch the olympics on a smart phone. Its a completely different experience. Again, there is room for a lot of different Business Models and ideas and our response in rio to Winter Olympics in south korea and we now have this arrangement with snapchat and we will be delivering olympic content in partnership with snap over the snapchat platform. I dont know of that will work yet and i dont even know exactly what it will look like but i think it makes us a Better Company to say that we do have customers that are fans of the olympics may not want to have their entire olympic experience be defined by the big screen tv in their homes so increasingly there is an interest in olympic content and on the small screen and in a different format so we created this partnership and we will be working with snap to try to redefine the olympic experience for certain viewers would like to see the olympic experience in this way. For Companies Like comcast to think more about lines of business that requires you to go out and buy other companies or to partner with them, im curious for your thoughts about this administration, the Trump Administration and its openness and use on things like competition and antitrust. This is someone who on the campaign trail specifically said you want to break up you guys and as far as i can tell you are still here in one piece but what is your take on the Trump Administration and competition. Personal, i feel compelled to say this and Brian Roberts pointed this out at the Goldman Sachs company last week. We love our company. We post at t acquisition and Nbc Universal acquisition and we view ourselves as essentially strategic complete. We are not out there saying oh my god, to survive we have to find Something Else to buy. I just want to make that clear. On the other hand, we have never viewed ourselves as being foreclosed from the acquisition marketplace either domestically or internationally. It has to be the right deal and it has to be something that we think enhances the quality of the company and enhances returns to shareholders and enhances shareholder value, as a result of that. I think it is no secret that overall this president and this administration is likely less hostile to horizontal growth or even vertical growth in the Telecom Space and elsewhere. The president doesnt have a confirmed assistant attorney general for antitrust yet and thats a key player in the space but theres not a complete ftc over this administration. Thats the other key player in the space but overall, there is likely to be less hostility to Larger Companies and mergers and acquisitions that would Grow Market Share within our space and over spaces and in other industries. I dont think thats a license for every anything goes but this freemarket philosophy that is likely to present itself in this administration is likely to say but i think there is pretty clearly going to be less hostility and a greater willingness to allow the market to work and to allow companies to acquire a merchant other companies. So it doesnt give you pause the president is talking about your other competitors, at t merger and its pursuit of time warner. Hes gone after that company and really said he will block that deal. Does it give you pause to see the present talking about transactions like that . The way i talk about this is that the overarching philosophy of competition policy and antitrust enforcement in this administration is likely to lead toward the free market approach be more hospital to mergers and acquisitions. On the other hand, there is a populist streak in this president which we saw evidence itself multiple times on the campaign trail and the populism and the populist approach could be a bit of a governor overall in the administration. In terms of whether the presence treats give me pause, i actually think and i could be wrong and we have to see the way this plays out but i think most of what the president is doing on twitter is conversation. It is our policy. It is certainly a glimpse into the way in which we are thinking but there are plenty of things that he has treated among later he has pleaded Something Else in a different context is 180 degrees or 160 degrees different from what he originally tweeted. I think maybe i am immune to it and maybe i am wrong but i am less concerned than a lot of my friends about the president s treats. I think it is a release valve for him and i think that in that sense it is not unhealthy and since general kelly has been chief of staff there has been a reduction of the treats and although still a lot of treats more of them are more controlled and more substance in to and had scratching then the treats pre general kelly for all about. Specific matters on the lets start with at t. [inaudible] have you spoken to the Justice Department about conditions . We dont comment on other peoples deals. Thats been a position since i been at the company and since ive been at the company i tried to religiously observe that. I will say that in many ways i think the proposed at t acquisition of time warner is the ultimate complement to Brian Roberts in his position because its a healthy. [inaudible] i will remind everyone that a time when they announced that deal there was a fair amount of criticism because it occurred at a time when content and distribution were being split and most people were moving in a different direction and some people questioned brians vision and he just had a very strong instinct and strong feel that content and distribution together would maximize consumer and shareholder values. After six years of performance with that i think that brians vision has been proven to be correct and that the proposed at t acquisition of time warner is a perfect example of someone else seeing that insane geewhiz, putting it together is a way to maximize customer as well as shareholder value. Have event to the Justice Department to talk about potential conditions on the field. I just dont like talking about other peoples deals. I dont like it when people talk about our deals and so i want to preserve my ability to privately complain when people do that and im just going to control myself and not talk about our views on that deal or anything that has occurred in the context. Understanding that i still have to ask what the other which is sinclair tribune. What is ideal me and asked . Again, i dont comment on other peoples and im not going to comment on that deal. I think there are implications for that deal in the broadcast ecosystem and in fair, there are some good things or potential good things for the company particularly on the nbc and universal side and there are potentially troubling issues for consumers. Im not going to leave the companys out of it but i think having that large a block of local broadcast authoritarians and almost inevitably put significant consent fees which are the number one driver of increases in cable prices for consumers these days but you seem to docket their economies studies that seem to be introduced to the record which identify and highlight the potential anti consumer implications of that transaction for the perspective of driving up retransmission consent fees. David cohen, it wouldnt be a communicators show if we did bring up Net Neutrality. Has that process moves through the fcc and potentially through congress what is your take on the new fcc with full contingent and german pies condition. I dont want to be presumption but hes put out a proposed rulemaking and to move to read classify broadband under title i to repeal, if you will, the misguided and dangerous reclassification of broadband that was. [inaudible] by the way, i have to say that i would note that tom wheeler was only one of the fcc chairs appointed by president obama and the other chair declassified it under title ii properly recognizing the danger of doing that in the potential adverse implications for investment incentives and continued growth of the internet and the lack of a necessity for doing it because there were other ways to be able to put in place Net Neutrality regulations. So, i think that is the direction that german pie appears to be heading which is we dont need title ii and that is a dangerous and negative implications for investment and consumer welfare but the npr and squarely to use up the question of what should Net Neutrality rules of the and what is the best way to impose those Net Neutrality rules. When i keep reading in the press including nbc press that chairman pai is attempting to repeal on Net Neutrality that is not what the army says and i cant read his mind but i dont think that is what he intends to do. It is not what comcast is looking for. I dont believe its what the rest of the iis the community is looking for either. We are looking for reclassifications of broadband under title i which for 20 or 30 years under democratic and republican fcc allowed the internet to thrive and encouraged private sector investments but we are also looking and supportive of strong and during Net Neutrality rules. Blocking, no throttling, no discrimination, transparency in the basic gamma of Net Neutrality and rules that started with Michael Power who was chairman of the fcc and protecting consumers and enabled for at least a couple of decades. That is the direction but chairman pai and, at least the majority of republican fcc, are heading. Honestly, will have to be provoked to do that. I think that there is enough controversy around sources of authority to impose those rules thats everyone who is going to come to the conclusion that the right answer here is Bipartisan Legislation that puts in place once and for all strong enforceable, during Net Neutrality rules. Ive used a couple of analogies over the course of this debate and i call this a game of regulatory pingpong where we are going back and forth from the fcc to the courts and the fcc makes a decision and someone appeals to the court and the court overturned that decision and it goes back to the fcc and fcc makes another decision and the party brings it back to the court again. This is not a matter of constitutional authority. It is a matter of Statutory Authority and that is what congressman elected for to pass laws. I think this is the time and may be the time to end this game of regulatory pingpong and my latest blog on the subject as we are now in the movie business i made a reference to groundhog day which, as you mentioned, we are at the indicators and we have to have a question on Net Neutrality and it does feel like groundhog day. Every time ive been on the show we have had had a discussion about Net Neutrality and every visit i make on the hill, every transaction we are involved in, Net Neutrality is part of the discussion and it is the open definition of groundhog day. Every time you wake up, no matter how much progress you made or how much you thank you moved the ball down the field there you are back at it. What will be due about Net Neutrality . Hopefully the fcc will encourage congress to say, it is time to end this and there is enough of a consensus out there around what Net Neutrality rules should look like so real legislative should be in place and will put everyone out of their misery maybe for the next 30 years. Just to tease a couple elements of that out. You said there is consensus but it didnt seem like there is consensus on that neutrality particularly when it comes to privatization rate what is the have my son paid prior transition. I was careful in choosing my words and you, because you also have been participating in our groundhog day discussions around that neutrality picked one of two issues that i didnt mention and thats paid prioritization. I have to believe that there is a compromise around paid prioritization. Julius, Barack Obamas chairman of the fcc came up with embedded desmet basically he prohibited any competitive paid prioritization and created a presumption in the rule against the legality of paid prioritization but allowed it to occur subject to casebycase review through the fcc. The time he did that the world did not go crazy and no one said oh my god, theres this massive loophole in julius Net Neutrality role. Times change and maybe that particular construct is a work anymore but what i think needs to happen and it can only happen in one place there will be comments in the docket because as i said they asked to weigh in on what they think that neutrality rules should look like. There are people who have weighed in and we have weighed in on what our perspective is on possible compromises around paid prioritization but the real place that discussion to take place is between republicans and democrats in the United States congress as they work to codify this and legislate the space and to see if they can come up with a construct that satisfies all of the various stakeholders in the Net Neutrality debate. I believe there are multiple comprises that can resolve that particular issue and if we are down to just that issue i cant believe we cant get in overall agreement on something that will work in the paid prioritization. To be good, if they took the language and they plopped that into a piece of legislation on capitol hill, what comcast supported christmas. Comcast would support it. I cant speak for the whole industry and by the way i have to say this because youre raising an important district paid prioritization arguably was about a much more significant issue five years or seven years ago than it is today. The reason for that is lets talk about comcast and our flagship broadband speeds when julius was doing the Net Neutrality rules with 25 meg down and it 25 meg down there might have been business reasons why it happened and espn, to take an example would want to pay comcast for a better experience for people who are downloading and streaming video at. Our flagship speech today is 100 megs now. There isnt any reason for the normal customer why anyone needs paid prioritization. Abandoned speeds and broadband capacity have evolved to such a great extent that the fear by some five, seven years ago about the need for paid prioritization to improve the Customer Experience is just not present as much but there might still be some needs may be for example in the commercial space a hospital that is doing remote healthcare his definition take a mayo clinic that has robotic surgery in indian reservations conducted by clinicians at the mayo clinic itself. You dont want a little glitch in the middle of the surgery. It might be worth it for them in important for the service to pay for the enhanced capacity to make sure that they get a prioritized quality of service. That is not anti competitive and not taking away from the basic Internet Access services that anyone else is delivering. It shouldnt be it is not the fear that the opponents of paid prioritization were articulating and that is why i think there is something to be done here and we can reach a compromise on that point. David cohen, final question for you 30 seconds. You become a Wireless Phone committee as well. Correct. One of the we are talking about when i say work strategically complete we say wireless and we have this great mgl from verizon and we launched our Wireless Service in april of this year and so far we are very excited as a result. Consumer reaction to the digital experience. More than half of our customers have signed up for the experience digitally. We are also now Offering Service on all of our Company Stores and we are optimistic and excited about not only the take rate but the customers reaction to being able to purchase Wireless Service from comcast as part of the xmen 80 bundle. We look forward to both of you coming back and continuing this conversation. Thanks for being on the indicators. During tomorrows washington journal we are live in annapolis, maryland as part of the ccn captors tour. Our guest will be marilyn Lieutenant Governor at 8 30 eastern. Minus tomorrow for the entire Washington Journal Program to beginning at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. On on cspan. There is no law that dictates impeachment. What the constitution says is that high crimes and misdemeanors and we just find that. Bill clinton got impeached because he lied. Here you have a president who i can tell you and guarantee you is in collusion with the russians to undermine our democracy. Here you have a president who is obstructing justice. Here you have a president that lies every day. Thank god that the special counsel is beginning to connect the dots and understand facebooks role in it, social medias role in it, when is the black Community Going to impeach him . It is time to go after him. I dont hear you. For the past 30 years the Video Library is your free resource for politics, congress in washington public affairs. Whether it happened 30 years ago or 30 minutes ago, find it in cspans Video Library at cspan. Org. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. Here on cspan2 we take you live to the Dirksen Senate Office Building as the Senate Finance Committee Sets up some of the debate this week for what is likely to be debated in the senate of what is called the Graham Cassidy health care bill. The finance committee will consider the legislation developed and sponsored by Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and louisianas bill cassidy and they are both expected to testify in front of the finance committee on the measure which
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