WEBVTT

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<v ->We're very pleased today to have</v>

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as our special guest Brian Roberts,

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who is the Chairman and CEO of Comcast.

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Comcast is a company which is now

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has a market capitalization of 107 billion dollars,

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63 billion dollars of revenue,

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and about 20 billion dollars of earnings.

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It's a very incredible company and a story

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that I'm gonna talk about for a moment.

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The company was actually started in 1963 when Brian's father

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bought a company in Tupelo, Mississippi.

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Some of you may have heard of Tupelo.

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That's where Elvis Presley was born.

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But it's better known now

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as the place where Comcast was born.

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Comcast was born because Brian's father,

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who is now 93 years old, Brian's mother is 91,

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and they just celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

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(audience applause)

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Brian's father bought, in Tupelo, Mississippi,

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a cable system with about 1300 subscribers

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for $500,000, 1963.

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In 1972, Comcast went public.

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Had you bought the stock then and held it to today,

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you would have averaged 19% annualized rate of return

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from 1972 until today, so a fairly spectacular track record.

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(audience applause)

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Brian joined the company after he graduated from college.

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He is a graduated of Wharton.

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He was not only a graduate and a very good student,

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but a champion all-American squash player there,

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and also won gold and silver medals

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at the Maccabiah Games on several occasions.

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He graduated in 1981, and joined the company,

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and started at the very bottom, working his way up poles,

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and doing all the entry level things that you might expect.

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He rose up to be President of the company

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in a few years later,

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and in 2002, became the Chief Executive of the company.

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Under Brian's leadership,

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the company has transformed itself even more,

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and it's today not a cable company,

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but a global media and technology company,

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and touching so many different citizens around the world,

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has now 129,000 employees,

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and of course has the Comcast cable

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that many of you are familiar with,

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but has voice, and has telephony, and video,

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but also owns NBC Universal,

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a transaction which closed I think just a few days ago.

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So Brian presides over one

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of the largest companies in the United States.

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It's the 27th largest by market cap

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and the 58th largest in the world.

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So my question to you first is when you were growing up,

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and your father said he was gonna

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buy this little cable company in Tupelo, Mississippi,

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did you ever think that this would lead

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to what it has led to?

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<v ->Well definitely not.</v>

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If you ask my father that question,

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he goes absolutely and then laughs.

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(audience laughter)

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And if he's on C-SPAN right now,

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lemme say hello to my parents, just get that outta the way,

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'cause it was a very special wedding anniversary

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at 70 years.

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So it's a pinch yourself kinda story, not unlike your own,

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and it's what I think gives you hope and promise

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for capitalism in America and the world,

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and I'm very proud of where we're at.

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But if you do too many victory laps,

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you're gonna get run right over.

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And so it's nice to have that introduction,

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but we're full speed ahead on the future.

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<v ->Lemme ask you though, what do you think,</v>

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there are a lotta cable companies.

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When cable was really growing in the 70s and 80s,

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and I'd say that there were a lotta cable companies,

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what was it that made Comcast

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become the largest of these cable companies?

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<v ->Well partially, my dad had a son who wanted</v>

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to go into the business, and that's how it was.

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I wanted to work for my dad.

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It didn't matter whether it was the belt business,

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the cologne business,

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which were things he had before the cable business.

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I wanted to work for my father.

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I'm one of five kids.

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It wasn't what everybody else wanted to do with their life,

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and they've had great lives, but it's what I wanted to do.

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And so when the business changed in the early 90s

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with real competition from satellite

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and now phone companies,

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and it was going to be a different industry

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than it had been since the 60s,

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many of those first generation entrepreneurs used it

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as an opportunity to say this is not the good old days,

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this is gonna be a totally different business, time to sell.

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And we were sitting there saying let's try to double down.

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And my father, as he's gotten older,

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many people wanna hold on and not take risks,

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he's not reckless, but he was, you know what,

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we only live once,

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let's go for it if we think it makes sense.

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And then a lot of it I think was being in the right place

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at the right time, and some instincts, and some good luck,

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and things have worked out.

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<v ->Lemme ask you about that.</v>

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It's very, it's my observation that driven business leaders

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very rarely produce driven business sons.

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It sometimes happens, but you're an exception.

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I mean, you're fairly driven based on what I know,

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and your father obviously was driven.

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So how did it, what is it like to work for your father

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when you're as driven as he is?

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<v ->So that's a great question, and a lot of people who</v>

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are fortunate enough to work in family businesses have,

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we've talked about that with other families

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and with ourselves.

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My own theory is, I have sorta three things

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that have made it work out for us kinda perfectly.

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One is there's a 40 year age gap.

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So when I was 21, he was turning 61,

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and so when I got to 30, he's already 70,

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and there wasn't a period where we were trying

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to do exactly the same thing at the same time.

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He too, it wasn't his first business.

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If I was in the men's belt business,

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I think I would still be selling belts,

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you wouldn't invite me to the Washington Economic Club.

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(audience laughter)

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No offense to all the people who make belts in the room.

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And, you know, we got into a lucky space,

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and it had an opportunity to grow.

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But also, he wasn't that first business

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where this is the way I do it sonny,

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and this is the way you should do it.

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He looked at Comcast,

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and his dream was to build a little IBM.

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And one day, an analyst called Comcast in the early days,

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long before I'm there, the little blue chip.

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And I think that may have been the proudest moment,

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'cause he sat down, he also was a graduate of Wharton,

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and I remember being 10 years old and him sitting

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with yellow pads of paper at home drawing up org charts

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of how this new company should function.

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And then the last thing is very personal to the relationship

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between the parent and the child.

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And in my case, I'd say two things.

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One, my father is the last person to speak in the room.

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He's the most gracious, humble, quiet, unassuming,

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tough when need to be person, but just the greatest,

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not with just me, but with everybody,

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and you could ask many many others.

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So when you're a kid, and you're 20 some years old,

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and you wanna go out and change the world,

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and maybe when you're 50

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and you still wanna change the world,

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but certainly when you're 20,

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you're gonna make a lot of bad ideas,

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and I've never had a bad idea according to my father.

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And when you come in and say we should go and do this,

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he would say that's a very interesting idea,

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maybe we should do this too,

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and this would be 180 degrees opposite.

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And instead of saying you're the stupidest guy

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in the world with that idea, which is what's gonna happen,

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that never happened to me.

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And so when you've got that enthusiasm,

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I think it's true with any young people,

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with your own kids or just employees,

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how do you say no without saying no?

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<v ->Well when you started, you graduated from Wharton,</v>

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and you started, you were,

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what was the job you had at the beginning?

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Were you actually climbing up poles to?

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<v ->I worked every summer of high school and college,</v>

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and we, except for one summer, we couldn't agree on the job,

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so I went and took a theater course in London,

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and that was my punishment and fun.

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(audience laughter)

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But I climbed poles, was an installer, a service technician,

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door-to-door salesman,

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put some newzak speakers in department stores.

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And then when I got outta Wharton, I said okay,

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now I've done all those things,

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I'm ready to come and run the company,

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at 21 years old graduating from college, and work for you.

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And he said okay.

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Well I never worked.

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He started Comcast.

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This is my other favorite anecdote as we celebrate

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our 50th anniversary in being in business this year.

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He started it when he was 43 years old.

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So kind of amazing you can start something

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this relevant that late.

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And he said, well I never worked in the cable business.

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I'm a business person, I'm a finance person, I'm marketer.

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You should know the business better

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than I know the business,

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which tells you something about my father's mindset with me,

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which was you can do whatever you want in your life,

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and I have no qualms about that.

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And so he wanted me to succeed,

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and he wanted me to know the business at every detail.

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So I moved to Trenton, New Jersey as a trainee.

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I moved to Flint, Michigan

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as a marketing manager in customer service.

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I moved back to Trenton as a general manager,

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and then I came back to Philly as a group manager.

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<v ->Did you know you were gonna be President someday,</v>

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or it wasn't foreordained?

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<v ->You know, I hoped it would happen.</v>

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I think he wouldn't do it if he didn't think it was right.

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When I was made President of the company at 30,

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it was a very different company.

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When I got outta college, the sales were 20 million a year,

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and it was a very different thing to be a cable company.

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It wasn't exactly glamorous either.

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It was close to belts.

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(audience laughter)

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And here we are.

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So I mean, we rode this together,

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and I think that's the most fun of the whole experience

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is to do this with a friend, and a partner, and your father.

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<v ->If your children, one or more of your children,</v>

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said I wanna be President of this company some day,

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what would you say?

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<v ->Let's get to work.</v>

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And you know, I wouldn't want the burden for them.

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I would just want live your life.

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If that's what you wanna do with your life,

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then start your career.

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But there's many roads to happiness,

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and I think it's more important to be happy

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than just to do what your parent did.

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<v ->Lemme ask you a question</v>

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that some people have (mumbles) asked you before.

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It's a complicated and sensitive question.

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Many people who built great companies in the United States

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become fabulously wealthy.

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I mean, they are at the top

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of the Forbes 400 list and so forth.

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Your family built this company,

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but you have diluted yourself to build it so that you're not

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as wealthy as many people would have thought you would be

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having built this gigantic company.

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Does that ever make you think twice

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about the way you built it, or you're happy where you are?

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<v ->Maybe we'll go in a back room and we'll do an LBO.</v>

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(audience laughter)

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<v ->Then let's go.</v>

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<v ->It's never, you know.</v>

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(audience laughter)

256
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<v ->We're ready.</v>

257
00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:52.608
<v ->We're not as smart as you David.</v>

258
00:11:52.608 --> 00:11:54.400
<v ->A lot smarter.</v>

259
00:11:54.400 --> 00:11:56.680
<v ->But you know, I've been, no.</v>

260
00:11:56.680 --> 00:11:59.099
The short answer is I don't think it's bothered my father

261
00:11:59.099 --> 00:12:00.640
for a second, doesn't bother me.

262
00:12:00.640 --> 00:12:02.673
We're very very fortunate.

263
00:12:02.673 --> 00:12:05.340
No one's gonna cry for us.

264
00:12:05.340 --> 00:12:09.120
And the focus has been building a company.

265
00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:10.803
It goes back to that little IBM.

266
00:12:12.090 --> 00:12:15.690
The goal has been, I've felt for a long time

267
00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:18.480
that this business scale mattered,

268
00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:21.680
and that in order to be successful,

269
00:12:21.680 --> 00:12:24.960
it goes back to when I saw Verizon get created,

270
00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:27.560
when Bell Atlantic and Nynex merged.

271
00:12:27.560 --> 00:12:29.610
I thought wow, if you live in Philadelphia,

272
00:12:29.610 --> 00:12:33.320
Bell Atlantic was the company, and then they merged.

273
00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:37.033
And before we could catch our breath, they merged with GTE.

274
00:12:38.692 --> 00:12:41.360
I thought my gosh, here's Bell Atlantic, Nynex, and GTE

275
00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.730
all thinking they're not capable without merging.

276
00:12:44.730 --> 00:12:46.330
And so for whatever reason,

277
00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:48.060
it doesn't mean there aren't plenty of businesses

278
00:12:48.060 --> 00:12:50.690
that can remain where they are,

279
00:12:50.690 --> 00:12:55.690
it put me on a path of what I thought we needed to do,

280
00:12:55.850 --> 00:12:59.290
which is to get to a certain scale.

281
00:12:59.290 --> 00:13:02.650
And that keeps getting redefined with where the world is,

282
00:13:02.650 --> 00:13:04.100
where the technology's going.

283
00:13:05.340 --> 00:13:08.360
And so as we looked at, I was fortunate enough Ted Turner

284
00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.012
called me up and said would you please be on my board.

285
00:13:11.012 --> 00:13:13.760
I think I was 28 years old,

286
00:13:13.760 --> 00:13:18.720
and I saw content getting built by CNN, and Turner,

287
00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:23.330
and TNT, (mumbles) Global, and just thought okay,

288
00:13:23.330 --> 00:13:28.000
we should try to have a company that could the perfect dream

289
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.148
would be to be in a position to innovate

290
00:13:30.148 --> 00:13:35.148
and to have the benefit of scale and not the burden,

291
00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:38.240
meaning staying a family business

292
00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.980
where you can make quick decisions,

293
00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:43.890
you have certain integrity and ethics and culture.

294
00:13:43.890 --> 00:13:46.040
And could we build a different kinda company,

295
00:13:46.040 --> 00:13:50.320
somewhere unique in the media and technology space,

296
00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:52.560
and that's what I hope we are in the process of doing.

297
00:13:52.560 --> 00:13:55.670
<v ->Now today, you call yourself, your company is called,</v>

298
00:13:55.670 --> 00:13:57.970
by the way, where did the name Comcast come from?

299
00:13:57.970 --> 00:13:58.910
<v ->Great question.</v>

300
00:13:58.910 --> 00:14:03.150
1963 or whenever I remember I was only a little kid,

301
00:14:03.150 --> 00:14:06.680
but I sort of remember him playing around with sketches.

302
00:14:06.680 --> 00:14:08.356
But in the genius of my father

303
00:14:08.356 --> 00:14:10.852
who would not call himself a visionary,

304
00:14:10.852 --> 00:14:13.902
but a more of a practical business man,

305
00:14:13.902 --> 00:14:17.930
the name was communications shortened

306
00:14:17.930 --> 00:14:20.220
and broadcasting shortened.

307
00:14:20.220 --> 00:14:23.570
And in those days, there was a COMSAT,

308
00:14:23.570 --> 00:14:26.020
and for the first 25 years of my business career,

309
00:14:26.020 --> 00:14:28.930
all we had to do was say no we're Comcast.

310
00:14:28.930 --> 00:14:30.810
COMSAT, thankfully, went away,

311
00:14:30.810 --> 00:14:32.697
so we don't have to do that anymore.

312
00:14:32.697 --> 00:14:33.530
(audience laughter)

313
00:14:33.530 --> 00:14:37.580
And Comcast, when we bought NBC,

314
00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:38.960
I thought isn't this incredible.

315
00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.760
For all those years we were just cable.

316
00:14:40.760 --> 00:14:44.120
So if I brought a little just a glimpse,

317
00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:46.470
a couple of quick slides of our website.

318
00:14:46.470 --> 00:14:50.720
So we just launched, a couple months ago,

319
00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.990
at the beginning of the year, the new Comcast.

320
00:14:53.990 --> 00:14:55.490
So people think of it as a cable company.

321
00:14:55.490 --> 00:14:56.833
So if you go to comcastcorporation.com,

322
00:14:58.532 --> 00:15:00.950
the first thing you see is well

323
00:15:00.950 --> 00:15:04.707
we're launching The Voice on Monday, and you can see that.

324
00:15:04.707 --> 00:15:06.530
And if you scroll down,

325
00:15:06.530 --> 00:15:10.230
you'll see well here's a great thing cable is doing

326
00:15:10.230 --> 00:15:11.240
called a watch-a-thon.

327
00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:15.470
We've taken the top, I don't know, hundred TV series

328
00:15:15.470 --> 00:15:19.280
from 27 different cable and broadcast networks

329
00:15:19.280 --> 00:15:21.880
and 3000 episodes,

330
00:15:21.880 --> 00:15:23.700
and you can watch any of those for free for a week.

331
00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:26.890
Whatever level of service you have is something new.

332
00:15:26.890 --> 00:15:27.760
And then if you scroll down,

333
00:15:27.760 --> 00:15:30.140
you'll see we have internet essentials on the website,

334
00:15:30.140 --> 00:15:33.350
which is our for lower income families to be able

335
00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:38.060
to get the internet for $9.95 a month.

336
00:15:38.060 --> 00:15:40.281
If you click media and technology,

337
00:15:40.281 --> 00:15:42.480
which is what we think of ourselves

338
00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.690
at a unique cross section of media and technology,

339
00:15:46.690 --> 00:15:48.370
you'll see our, I'm gonna talk maybe later

340
00:15:48.370 --> 00:15:50.440
about X1 our platform.

341
00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:53.610
Here's Meet the Press or the new movie we're making.

342
00:15:53.610 --> 00:15:55.440
Here's Comcast Labs.

343
00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:57.497
You can click in a lot of video on the site.

344
00:15:57.497 --> 00:16:02.080
If you move on, you'll see that we,

345
00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:04.174
if you wanna click into one of those things.

346
00:16:04.174 --> 00:16:06.753
Why don't you go to the next page.

347
00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:09.143
Come on down to the bottom.

348
00:16:10.250 --> 00:16:12.153
Here we got home security.

349
00:16:12.153 --> 00:16:14.390
Anyway, here we are.

350
00:16:14.390 --> 00:16:15.223
You can then go and look.

351
00:16:15.223 --> 00:16:17.690
So if you're a kid coming outta college,

352
00:16:17.690 --> 00:16:18.800
and you wanna work,

353
00:16:18.800 --> 00:16:21.813
we get a million job applications a year I believe,

354
00:16:21.813 --> 00:16:24.380
how do we present ourselves?

355
00:16:24.380 --> 00:16:27.660
I think the way we'll be successful 10 or 20 years from now

356
00:16:27.660 --> 00:16:29.630
is all about who works for the company,

357
00:16:29.630 --> 00:16:31.380
really really as boring as that sounds.

358
00:16:31.380 --> 00:16:34.600
And the best way is to say to an outsider,

359
00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.120
this is the most exciting company.

360
00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:38.420
You can work on Saturday Night Live one day,

361
00:16:38.420 --> 00:16:41.540
and strategic planning on interactive television another,

362
00:16:41.540 --> 00:16:45.007
look at global news, and be at the center of reporting,

363
00:16:45.007 --> 00:16:50.007
and have the scale with a thousand software engineers

364
00:16:51.850 --> 00:16:56.690
to help lead the conversation and the consumer

365
00:16:56.690 --> 00:16:59.490
to where they can and they wanna go.

366
00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:02.830
And I think it's a very special time for the company.

367
00:17:02.830 --> 00:17:06.960
<v ->So today, let's suppose in the traditional part</v>

368
00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:10.584
of your business, forget NBC Universal for a moment,

369
00:17:10.584 --> 00:17:14.360
what percentage of your revenues come from, or overall,

370
00:17:14.360 --> 00:17:17.130
what percentage of your revenues comes from cable,

371
00:17:17.130 --> 00:17:18.680
what percentage comes from broadband,

372
00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:21.290
and what percentage comes from telephony?

373
00:17:21.290 --> 00:17:22.820
<v ->So in the cable side of the business,</v>

374
00:17:22.820 --> 00:17:26.780
it's about half I think for cable TV.

375
00:17:26.780 --> 00:17:28.040
Here's a great stat.

376
00:17:28.040 --> 00:17:31.640
We have about 22 million cable customers.

377
00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:34.100
We now have 20 million broadband customers.

378
00:17:34.100 --> 00:17:35.850
Those lines will cross sometime

379
00:17:35.850 --> 00:17:37.920
in the next couple of years I predict,

380
00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:40.940
and we will have just as many, if not more,

381
00:17:40.940 --> 00:17:43.730
broadband customers than we do video customers.

382
00:17:43.730 --> 00:17:45.659
We hit 10 million phone customers.

383
00:17:45.659 --> 00:17:49.160
I came to this Washington Cable Club 10 years ago

384
00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:53.256
and had the, Washington Economic Club, excuse me,

385
00:17:53.256 --> 00:17:57.740
and it was like 2003,

386
00:17:57.740 --> 00:18:02.740
and in those days, we had 500,000 broadband,

387
00:18:02.810 --> 00:18:04.136
I think, or less.

388
00:18:04.136 --> 00:18:07.640
We had seven or eight million TV customers

389
00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:09.110
and zero phone customers.

390
00:18:09.110 --> 00:18:14.110
And today, we're number one, number one, and number four.

391
00:18:14.690 --> 00:18:17.020
<v ->What's a better, what's the highest margin of those three,</v>

392
00:18:17.020 --> 00:18:17.853
if you can tell us?

393
00:18:17.853 --> 00:18:19.800
<v ->Well the fastest growing part is the broadband.</v>

394
00:18:19.800 --> 00:18:20.633
<v ->Broadband.</v>

395
00:18:20.633 --> 00:18:23.360
<v ->But it's a different broadband every year.</v>

396
00:18:23.360 --> 00:18:28.360
We change the speeds, we change the nature of it.

397
00:18:28.390 --> 00:18:31.680
So wifi is now, in our minds, in your home,

398
00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:34.190
part of our definition of broadband.

399
00:18:34.190 --> 00:18:35.794
So we wanna have the fastest wifi

400
00:18:35.794 --> 00:18:38.760
as well as the fastest pipe.

401
00:18:38.760 --> 00:18:42.642
We wanna offer you access in outside of your home.

402
00:18:42.642 --> 00:18:46.280
So it's changing as much,

403
00:18:46.280 --> 00:18:49.590
but I think television is and will change more

404
00:18:49.590 --> 00:18:52.820
in the next five years than it has in the last 50.

405
00:18:52.820 --> 00:18:55.390
And phone, everybody forgets about phone,

406
00:18:55.390 --> 00:18:56.890
assumes we're just gonna have a wireless phone,

407
00:18:56.890 --> 00:18:58.898
I don't need a wired phone, and we're innovating,

408
00:18:58.898 --> 00:19:02.350
we actually, the one that surpassed budget

409
00:19:02.350 --> 00:19:05.630
the most last year was our telephony business.

410
00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:10.630
We've broadened that into energy management, home security.

411
00:19:11.110 --> 00:19:14.180
Where the world may go will be your home

412
00:19:14.180 --> 00:19:16.870
wants to automatically save electricity.

413
00:19:16.870 --> 00:19:20.710
It wants to have video baby monitors, security.

414
00:19:20.710 --> 00:19:24.948
You can get it from any device, healthcare monitoring.

415
00:19:24.948 --> 00:19:26.940
We're working with healthcare providers

416
00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:29.550
to talk about the growing problem of diabetes

417
00:19:29.550 --> 00:19:32.410
in the country and should we be able

418
00:19:32.410 --> 00:19:37.330
to help you check in on demand, online, smart devices.

419
00:19:37.330 --> 00:19:40.140
It's a pretty exciting time all those businesses.

420
00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:44.180
<v ->Lemme ask you, if you were watching cable in your house,</v>

421
00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:45.520
and something isn't working,

422
00:19:45.520 --> 00:19:47.666
and you wanna call the cable company up.

423
00:19:47.666 --> 00:19:48.499
(audience laughter)

424
00:19:48.499 --> 00:19:49.332
<v ->That never happens.</v>

425
00:19:49.332 --> 00:19:52.056
<v ->Do you ever have any problems getting through?</v>

426
00:19:52.056 --> 00:19:53.460
<v ->No I, I tell ya.</v>

427
00:19:53.460 --> 00:19:56.392
I don't know what you're asking.

428
00:19:56.392 --> 00:19:58.077
(audience laughter)

429
00:19:58.077 --> 00:20:02.640
So one of the main goals,

430
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:07.510
we have a super, I think, a super star executive

431
00:20:07.510 --> 00:20:10.030
in Neil Smith, who is the head of cable.

432
00:20:10.030 --> 00:20:15.030
When Steve Burke moved over to NBC Universal after 12 years

433
00:20:15.540 --> 00:20:17.240
of running Comcast cable and took us

434
00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.530
from two or three million customers to 20,

435
00:20:20.530 --> 00:20:25.530
and we became a cable company in 30 states, huge job.

436
00:20:25.860 --> 00:20:30.520
When Neil got here, he wanted to make it work better,

437
00:20:30.520 --> 00:20:32.800
and it's all about improving service.

438
00:20:32.800 --> 00:20:36.700
And although we're nowhere near where I'd like us to be,

439
00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:40.658
and we're, the definition of good service never ends,

440
00:20:40.658 --> 00:20:44.270
being able to self help, less truck rolls,

441
00:20:44.270 --> 00:20:47.506
get it right the first time, make it simpler,

442
00:20:47.506 --> 00:20:50.450
I think we've made terrific strides

443
00:20:50.450 --> 00:20:52.510
and a more reliable network.

444
00:20:52.510 --> 00:20:54.730
<v ->Why do you think the cable industry seems to have</v>

445
00:20:54.730 --> 00:20:58.573
had a reputation for maybe not the best service at times?

446
00:20:59.460 --> 00:21:03.880
<v ->Well I tell ya, I think it's inherently unpopular</v>

447
00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:06.420
to ask people to pay for television.

448
00:21:06.420 --> 00:21:09.250
And so whether you like it or not,

449
00:21:09.250 --> 00:21:11.390
we're the ones collecting the bill.

450
00:21:11.390 --> 00:21:15.496
And every single content company, sports company,

451
00:21:15.496 --> 00:21:20.496
entertainer, journalist gets a raise every year.

452
00:21:22.430 --> 00:21:25.440
So we have to go back and raise rates every year.

453
00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:29.040
And we give, we try, and I think successfully,

454
00:21:29.040 --> 00:21:31.580
to improve the value of what it is you receive,

455
00:21:31.580 --> 00:21:35.190
whether that's now you can pause live TV with a DVR,

456
00:21:35.190 --> 00:21:37.070
you get it in high definition,

457
00:21:37.070 --> 00:21:39.330
you can watch it on an iPad in your home,

458
00:21:39.330 --> 00:21:41.522
you're starting to watch it outside of your home.

459
00:21:41.522 --> 00:21:46.110
Despite all of that, still not the favorite thing

460
00:21:46.110 --> 00:21:48.393
to write a check to watch television,

461
00:21:49.310 --> 00:21:52.930
and so I think a lotta that is there.

462
00:21:52.930 --> 00:21:56.980
Number two, there was a period, very long time ago,

463
00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:59.320
where we were the only game in town.

464
00:21:59.320 --> 00:22:00.402
That has changed.

465
00:22:00.402 --> 00:22:03.270
If you said to me when you wake up in the middle

466
00:22:03.270 --> 00:22:04.720
of the night, who are you worried about?

467
00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:06.260
We're worried about satellite.

468
00:22:06.260 --> 00:22:09.220
We're worried about Verizon phone and fios.

469
00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:13.600
We're worried about, you know, you don't have to have cable.

470
00:22:13.600 --> 00:22:14.610
You can get other.

471
00:22:14.610 --> 00:22:16.850
If we don't give a great service experience,

472
00:22:16.850 --> 00:22:20.730
you have so many choices, you're gonna leave us,

473
00:22:20.730 --> 00:22:22.400
and people do leave us.

474
00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.680
And so we've had a very good improvement seven quarters

475
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:29.220
in a row in our sales results,

476
00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:31.147
and I think it's directly tied to improving service.

477
00:22:31.147 --> 00:22:32.900
<v ->Now you have 22 million people</v>

478
00:22:32.900 --> 00:22:34.420
that get your cable service.

479
00:22:34.420 --> 00:22:36.020
Is that right, 22 million?

480
00:22:36.020 --> 00:22:39.030
What percentage of them just get basic, the most basic,

481
00:22:39.030 --> 00:22:41.470
and what percentage get the most,

482
00:22:41.470 --> 00:22:42.893
everything you can possibly get?

483
00:22:42.893 --> 00:22:46.060
<v ->15, 10, 15% on one end,</v>

484
00:22:46.060 --> 00:22:49.700
and I think we're over half taking triple play.

485
00:22:49.700 --> 00:22:51.640
That may be low, and maybe that's a little too high.

486
00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:54.461
35% taking everything.

487
00:22:54.461 --> 00:22:59.461
And we're seeing much more of the business evolve

488
00:22:59.538 --> 00:23:02.246
to that stratification and everything in between

489
00:23:02.246 --> 00:23:04.900
where we've been fortunate.

490
00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:09.140
What we've done as competition has increased over the years

491
00:23:09.140 --> 00:23:11.240
is the first thing we did was try to get better.

492
00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.510
So there was a period where I could honestly tell ya

493
00:23:14.510 --> 00:23:17.130
that we were maybe not the best and only way

494
00:23:17.130 --> 00:23:17.990
to get television.

495
00:23:17.990 --> 00:23:20.100
Satellite had more high def channels.

496
00:23:20.100 --> 00:23:21.938
Somebody had a newer box.

497
00:23:21.938 --> 00:23:25.778
Right now, I can, I wanna show you a demo here

498
00:23:25.778 --> 00:23:28.320
of our latest television product

499
00:23:28.320 --> 00:23:30.770
which we're rolling out in Washington this month.

500
00:23:30.770 --> 00:23:33.313
Lemme go to that real fast.

501
00:23:34.410 --> 00:23:37.663
So if you're watching TV and you click the Xfinity button,

502
00:23:38.937 --> 00:23:39.810
up comes a guide.

503
00:23:39.810 --> 00:23:43.010
Now lemme just say, this guide is the first guide

504
00:23:43.010 --> 00:23:44.093
in the history of the company

505
00:23:44.093 --> 00:23:48.110
that is happening in the cloud.

506
00:23:48.110 --> 00:23:50.220
So all of this, this is,

507
00:23:50.220 --> 00:23:52.510
lemme just say this because of the hotel.

508
00:23:52.510 --> 00:23:56.790
This is a demo, but exactly what I'm showing you we have

509
00:23:56.790 --> 00:23:59.210
in every major city in America

510
00:23:59.210 --> 00:24:02.030
we're rolling out this year this product.

511
00:24:02.030 --> 00:24:04.000
We call it X1.

512
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:08.790
And so you go here and you now are you know NBC surprise.

513
00:24:08.790 --> 00:24:10.258
You click it.

514
00:24:10.258 --> 00:24:15.100
You can go back, you wanna watch on demand.

515
00:24:15.100 --> 00:24:17.970
So if you go to on demand, lemme just put a plug in.

516
00:24:17.970 --> 00:24:21.700
We sort of pioneered, it wasn't just movies on demand.

517
00:24:21.700 --> 00:24:24.660
In the last 10 years since we launched on demand,

518
00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:28.553
we've had 30 billion views of on demand content.

519
00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.540
We have 400 million a month, that's an all time high,

520
00:24:32.540 --> 00:24:37.330
with 100,000 TV and movie choices on all platforms.

521
00:24:37.330 --> 00:24:39.930
If you go down on demand, you can see,

522
00:24:39.930 --> 00:24:41.342
you could pick movies, you could go into movies,

523
00:24:41.342 --> 00:24:45.390
it would then let you search by genre,

524
00:24:45.390 --> 00:24:50.390
or you could search by kids, you could search by network.

525
00:24:52.580 --> 00:24:54.790
And if you go scroll over to NBC,

526
00:24:54.790 --> 00:24:57.270
you can see that that network picks its own content

527
00:24:57.270 --> 00:24:59.690
that it wants to suggest that you look at,

528
00:24:59.690 --> 00:25:01.413
or you could pick it all yourself.

529
00:25:02.543 --> 00:25:06.180
Going back to full video, another feature that we do

530
00:25:06.180 --> 00:25:08.403
from the cloud is if you click last,

531
00:25:09.545 --> 00:25:10.380
instead of just what the last channel was,

532
00:25:10.380 --> 00:25:12.760
it gives you nine choices.

533
00:25:12.760 --> 00:25:14.260
We're beginning to personalize

534
00:25:14.260 --> 00:25:17.720
and innovate towards this way,

535
00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:20.770
and it's a mixture of on demand content,

536
00:25:20.770 --> 00:25:24.100
live TV, DVR content.

537
00:25:24.100 --> 00:25:28.560
So in this case, Les Mis, which I just am proud,

538
00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:31.740
just a segue for half a second is this trailer runs

539
00:25:31.740 --> 00:25:33.430
or this piece of the film.

540
00:25:33.430 --> 00:25:38.420
Tomorrow, the Les Mis DVD comes out.

541
00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:41.613
So I want everybody here to go buy the DVD.

542
00:25:41.613 --> 00:25:42.830
(audience laughter)

543
00:25:42.830 --> 00:25:45.046
It's a film that we're extremely proud

544
00:25:45.046 --> 00:25:47.094
was up for many Oscars,

545
00:25:47.094 --> 00:25:50.790
and part of one of the reasons we wanted to be in content

546
00:25:50.790 --> 00:25:55.790
is to create something that we can promote and celebrate

547
00:25:56.700 --> 00:25:59.330
more than maybe any other company can do.

548
00:25:59.330 --> 00:26:04.330
So anyway, if you then want to go on

549
00:26:04.630 --> 00:26:07.220
to how other ways to search,

550
00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:11.180
which is now that we have a hundred thousand choices,

551
00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:12.480
it's really complicated.

552
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:14.275
So here you take the remote.

553
00:26:14.275 --> 00:26:16.579
Now this is a new remote.

554
00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:18.496
The coolest thing about this remote

555
00:26:18.496 --> 00:26:21.251
is you don't have to point it at the TV.

556
00:26:21.251 --> 00:26:23.768
It can point backwards and work.

557
00:26:23.768 --> 00:26:28.768
It's IR, and so you could put the box in a cabinet,

558
00:26:30.570 --> 00:26:32.610
and you don't have to have it in front of your TV.

559
00:26:32.610 --> 00:26:35.608
So that most people say I'll take it just for that.

560
00:26:35.608 --> 00:26:39.960
If you click 784, you might go to channel 784

561
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:43.500
or something near there, but it also spells out Suits.

562
00:26:43.500 --> 00:26:45.310
It's like there's no triple clicking.

563
00:26:45.310 --> 00:26:49.590
So if you click on Suits, we give you the choice.

564
00:26:49.590 --> 00:26:51.440
First of all, you could put a parental control

565
00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:54.460
on real easily with the lock button, one click.

566
00:26:54.460 --> 00:26:58.090
If you go to episode guide, you see here all,

567
00:26:58.090 --> 00:27:00.680
you can see we have Thursday it's showing.

568
00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:03.160
It's on the DVR, it's also on demand.

569
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.270
We've merged all the databases so that it's easy

570
00:27:05.270 --> 00:27:07.760
for the consumer to get any content they want,

571
00:27:07.760 --> 00:27:10.189
anytime they want, whether it's on now or not.

572
00:27:10.189 --> 00:27:11.939
We also have more like this.

573
00:27:11.939 --> 00:27:15.310
Click this button, The Good Wife,

574
00:27:15.310 --> 00:27:17.334
Executive Suite, Fairly Legal.

575
00:27:17.334 --> 00:27:19.043
These would be shows that are like Suits.

576
00:27:20.365 --> 00:27:22.691
So we're pretty excited about how to improve search.

577
00:27:22.691 --> 00:27:26.616
Now another way that we've listened to customers

578
00:27:26.616 --> 00:27:29.240
that it's really tough to click buttons.

579
00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:31.270
We've also done all of, everything I just showed you

580
00:27:31.270 --> 00:27:33.750
on an iPad or an iPhone you could do,

581
00:27:33.750 --> 00:27:35.250
and it would control your TV again,

582
00:27:35.250 --> 00:27:36.899
'cause we're talking to the cloud.

583
00:27:36.899 --> 00:27:40.504
But here, we're building in voice navigation,

584
00:27:40.504 --> 00:27:42.700
which we've launched on an iPhone,

585
00:27:42.700 --> 00:27:45.630
which we hope to launch on our next generation remotes.

586
00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:47.905
And lemme just show you how that would work as a demo,

587
00:27:47.905 --> 00:27:50.900
but this is working really in customers' homes.

588
00:27:50.900 --> 00:27:53.503
If I go watch golf,

589
00:27:56.870 --> 00:27:58.750
it will then change channels.

590
00:27:58.750 --> 00:28:00.840
So it's a, you know, that's nice,

591
00:28:00.840 --> 00:28:02.540
but it might be easier just to go to last channel.

592
00:28:02.540 --> 00:28:05.803
So if I say show me all HBO movies,

593
00:28:10.670 --> 00:28:14.323
now if I say filter by comedy,

594
00:28:18.090 --> 00:28:20.400
now these are all the HBO comedy movies.

595
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.190
So what we've found is customers really like it when you

596
00:28:23.190 --> 00:28:26.660
wanna do a sophisticated search that requires 10 clicks,

597
00:28:26.660 --> 00:28:27.880
maybe not just one click.

598
00:28:27.880 --> 00:28:30.763
So if I say what should I watch,

599
00:28:32.060 --> 00:28:36.697
it then, based on your settings, and your DVR,

600
00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:39.790
and your preferences,

601
00:28:39.790 --> 00:28:43.700
it has brought up recommendations for you.

602
00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:47.310
And finally, something I know everybody here wants to know,

603
00:28:47.310 --> 00:28:49.843
is when do the Washington Capitals play.

604
00:28:54.630 --> 00:28:55.463
And there you go.

605
00:28:55.463 --> 00:28:58.420
And it would show you that it's here's when the game is on,

606
00:28:58.420 --> 00:28:59.950
here's other hockey.

607
00:28:59.950 --> 00:29:02.540
And so we think that's really part of our future.

608
00:29:02.540 --> 00:29:03.960
Now how did we do all this?

609
00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:07.789
We do it because we have a cable box that is talking

610
00:29:07.789 --> 00:29:11.840
over the private network to our servers

611
00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:16.021
where not in your home so that the box in your home

612
00:29:16.021 --> 00:29:19.340
is no longer the gating issue.

613
00:29:19.340 --> 00:29:21.390
And finally what that allows us to do

614
00:29:21.390 --> 00:29:23.800
is to go into the app business.

615
00:29:23.800 --> 00:29:27.040
So like others, and we're not only catching up,

616
00:29:27.040 --> 00:29:30.560
hopefully we're leap frogging others on the web,

617
00:29:30.560 --> 00:29:32.420
but it feels like every other experience.

618
00:29:32.420 --> 00:29:33.770
So here's weather.

619
00:29:33.770 --> 00:29:36.940
Now sports, people wanna know what's on.

620
00:29:36.940 --> 00:29:38.760
So we created Xfinity Sports.

621
00:29:38.760 --> 00:29:41.980
This tonight, every game that would be on TV,

622
00:29:41.980 --> 00:29:44.580
when that game goes hot, if you click on it,

623
00:29:44.580 --> 00:29:46.480
you would see in real time what's happening.

624
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:48.813
And where it says more, that will change to watch

625
00:29:48.813 --> 00:29:51.860
if the game was available somewhere.

626
00:29:51.860 --> 00:29:53.430
So you can watch two at once.

627
00:29:53.430 --> 00:29:55.400
You can do it with your iPad.

628
00:29:55.400 --> 00:29:56.680
These are some of the innovations.

629
00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:01.330
All of this is real and is be in this market in April.

630
00:30:01.330 --> 00:30:02.163
It's in DC.

631
00:30:02.163 --> 00:30:04.170
It's be all in the full market.

632
00:30:04.170 --> 00:30:08.950
So and then I'm coming back in June.

633
00:30:08.950 --> 00:30:10.594
We have our annual cable convention

634
00:30:10.594 --> 00:30:15.594
here in Washington this year, the NCTA show, and this is X1,

635
00:30:17.040 --> 00:30:20.070
we're gonna be showing the next generation of where this

636
00:30:20.070 --> 00:30:25.070
is all headed, and it makes this look like a first version.

637
00:30:25.420 --> 00:30:28.472
And so customers, I think, are excited.

638
00:30:28.472 --> 00:30:30.340
It's a different experience.

639
00:30:30.340 --> 00:30:31.640
It's a different kinda remote.

640
00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:32.620
There's real innovation.

641
00:30:32.620 --> 00:30:35.810
The cycle time for that innovation is speeding up.

642
00:30:35.810 --> 00:30:37.370
And all of that is because I think we're

643
00:30:37.370 --> 00:30:38.997
at this cross section of media and technology.

644
00:30:38.997 --> 00:30:41.920
<v ->And will all this be done at a lower price than today?</v>

645
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:42.979
<v ->No.</v>

646
00:30:42.979 --> 00:30:43.812
(audience laughter)

647
00:30:43.812 --> 00:30:45.432
How did we get back to that?

648
00:30:45.432 --> 00:30:50.432
No, there's no, we are not charging all new installs

649
00:30:50.870 --> 00:30:55.060
that take the triple play with this just comes.

650
00:30:55.060 --> 00:30:58.310
<v ->So now you are, now you are the CEO and Chairman</v>

651
00:30:58.310 --> 00:31:00.260
of NBC Universal as well.

652
00:31:00.260 --> 00:31:03.907
You bought that for roughly 30 billion dollars or so.

653
00:31:03.907 --> 00:31:07.070
Did you ever think twice about buying content?

654
00:31:07.070 --> 00:31:09.410
Was that a difficult decision?

655
00:31:09.410 --> 00:31:12.940
<v ->You know, goes back to the Ted Turner experience.</v>

656
00:31:12.940 --> 00:31:14.520
I think both are great businesses.

657
00:31:14.520 --> 00:31:18.023
It's an ecosystem that feeds off each other.

658
00:31:19.650 --> 00:31:24.460
I think we are proud of the opportunity

659
00:31:24.460 --> 00:31:25.750
to help do the technology,

660
00:31:25.750 --> 00:31:30.750
but the content is also can spread around the world easier,

661
00:31:31.390 --> 00:31:34.700
and we wanted to find the right situation

662
00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:36.480
at the right price.

663
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:38.780
As you said earlier, we care about shareholder returns,

664
00:31:38.780 --> 00:31:42.070
and this was the right thing for us.

665
00:31:42.070 --> 00:31:44.100
It was 2008.

666
00:31:44.100 --> 00:31:46.450
The world was melding.

667
00:31:46.450 --> 00:31:49.690
GE sort of had signaled that they might

668
00:31:49.690 --> 00:31:51.870
at some point exit the business,

669
00:31:51.870 --> 00:31:53.630
and we found a creative structure

670
00:31:53.630 --> 00:31:55.440
that allowed them to exit over time,

671
00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:57.940
allow us to introduce ourselves to the business,

672
00:31:57.940 --> 00:32:01.260
see if we could handle it,

673
00:32:01.260 --> 00:32:06.260
and we just two days ago closed on the other 49%.

674
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:10.380
We did that voluntarily early by several years,

675
00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:13.780
and so we're obviously very bullish, very excited.

676
00:32:13.780 --> 00:32:17.360
And you know, it's not easy, it's not perfect,

677
00:32:17.360 --> 00:32:18.687
it's much more visible,

678
00:32:18.687 --> 00:32:21.630
but very proud of what NBC Universal's up to.

679
00:32:21.630 --> 00:32:23.240
<v ->So would you like to make some news?</v>

680
00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:28.240
Is Jay Leno gonna be the, any news on that front?

681
00:32:28.447 --> 00:32:29.450
(audience laughter)

682
00:32:29.450 --> 00:32:30.602
<v ->I didn't anticipate that question.</v>

683
00:32:30.602 --> 00:32:31.903
(audience laughter)

684
00:32:31.903 --> 00:32:32.970
<v ->Do you have an answer?</v>

685
00:32:32.970 --> 00:32:33.880
<v ->No answer.</v>

686
00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:35.400
<v ->Okay, alright, we won't get into that.</v>

687
00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:37.340
<v ->I think Jay Leno's fantastic.</v>

688
00:32:37.340 --> 00:32:38.730
<v ->Okay, alright</v>

689
00:32:38.730 --> 00:32:40.530
<v ->These things are very visible,</v>

690
00:32:40.530 --> 00:32:45.530
but I think Steve Burke is doing a marvelous job.

691
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:49.750
It's an imperfect business,

692
00:32:49.750 --> 00:32:52.368
and everything is in a fish bowl,

693
00:32:52.368 --> 00:32:55.740
but ultimately what we're trying to do

694
00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:57.360
is create the best content

695
00:32:57.360 --> 00:33:02.360
and have a machine that can celebrate that content,

696
00:33:03.050 --> 00:33:07.973
whether it's Jay Leno, or Les Mis, or The Voice,

697
00:33:09.051 --> 00:33:11.030
and some that will not be so successful,

698
00:33:11.030 --> 00:33:13.050
and then there's a lot of people issues,

699
00:33:13.050 --> 00:33:14.880
and you keep that stuff confidential.

700
00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:16.304
<v ->Alright, so you.</v>

701
00:33:16.304 --> 00:33:17.307
<v ->Despite the rumors in the press.</v>

702
00:33:17.307 --> 00:33:19.130
<v ->So you spend a lotta time in Washington dealing</v>

703
00:33:19.130 --> 00:33:22.747
with members of congress and regulatory officials as well.

704
00:33:22.747 --> 00:33:24.740
Is that an important part of your job

705
00:33:24.740 --> 00:33:26.700
dealing with the regulatory environment?

706
00:33:26.700 --> 00:33:30.630
<v ->Yes, I've been on the board of the Cable Trade Association</v>

707
00:33:30.630 --> 00:33:34.150
for since I was in my 20s,

708
00:33:34.150 --> 00:33:39.150
and I was just remembering Ann Wexler who lived here,

709
00:33:39.540 --> 00:33:42.927
was on our board, was first person that ever advocated

710
00:33:42.927 --> 00:33:46.670
with me for the company, who's no longer alive.

711
00:33:46.670 --> 00:33:49.930
And it's a big part of my job,

712
00:33:49.930 --> 00:33:52.893
but we now have terrific experts,

713
00:33:53.830 --> 00:33:57.070
and David Cohen helps lead all the effort,

714
00:33:57.070 --> 00:34:00.720
and but I like being here and not here enough.

715
00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:02.880
<v ->And would you ever consider going</v>

716
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:04.420
into public service full time?

717
00:34:04.420 --> 00:34:06.950
I know the President appointed you to some boards,

718
00:34:06.950 --> 00:34:09.830
and would you ever leave what you're doing now

719
00:34:09.830 --> 00:34:12.300
and go into public service, any interest in that?

720
00:34:12.300 --> 00:34:15.570
<v ->You know, I guess you never say never in anything,</v>

721
00:34:15.570 --> 00:34:17.160
but I'm very happy with what I do.

722
00:34:17.160 --> 00:34:18.210
It's all I've ever done.

723
00:34:18.210 --> 00:34:21.440
I'm not sure I'd be the best at that.

724
00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:23.690
I do think we can make a great difference

725
00:34:23.690 --> 00:34:26.320
with the company and the platform that we've got.

726
00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:29.190
The platform keeps getting greater and more interesting.

727
00:34:29.190 --> 00:34:31.970
So for instance, I'm touched on internet essentials.

728
00:34:31.970 --> 00:34:34.460
I'm kinda really proud of what's happened.

729
00:34:34.460 --> 00:34:36.539
This was David, among others', idea

730
00:34:36.539 --> 00:34:40.683
that we have this fantastic new business broadband.

731
00:34:41.780 --> 00:34:44.700
I remember hearing Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC,

732
00:34:44.700 --> 00:34:47.610
give a talk, which I listened to,

733
00:34:47.610 --> 00:34:50.610
where he said imagine being a school teacher in Mississippi,

734
00:34:50.610 --> 00:34:55.560
was his example, and you wanna give a homework assignment,

735
00:34:55.560 --> 00:35:00.370
and half the kids have broadband, and half the kids don't.

736
00:35:00.370 --> 00:35:01.950
And if the homework assignment requires

737
00:35:01.950 --> 00:35:05.110
going on the internet and doing some research,

738
00:35:05.110 --> 00:35:06.890
is that a fair thing to do?

739
00:35:06.890 --> 00:35:10.182
And if the answer is no, then the other half

740
00:35:10.182 --> 00:35:12.850
do have internet are being retarded.

741
00:35:12.850 --> 00:35:15.150
And if you'd say yes, the half that don't

742
00:35:15.150 --> 00:35:16.940
don't have a fair chance.

743
00:35:16.940 --> 00:35:19.550
And is there anything more important

744
00:35:19.550 --> 00:35:23.680
than giving that tool set to every kid in America?

745
00:35:23.680 --> 00:35:27.680
So we found the right way, and the time, and the program,

746
00:35:27.680 --> 00:35:32.680
and we have started a program internet essentials,

747
00:35:32.890 --> 00:35:34.327
and we partner with people

748
00:35:34.327 --> 00:35:36.656
who can give them folks a cheap laptop

749
00:35:36.656 --> 00:35:40.710
and with educating people at the programs available.

750
00:35:40.710 --> 00:35:43.590
We've had half a million families and kids

751
00:35:43.590 --> 00:35:46.278
who've now been affected in two years.

752
00:35:46.278 --> 00:35:49.870
That opportunity doesn't come to every company in America

753
00:35:49.870 --> 00:35:52.530
to do things like that, and we're only getting started.

754
00:35:52.530 --> 00:35:54.450
So I like what I'm doing.

755
00:35:54.450 --> 00:35:57.400
<v ->Now NBC has locked up the Olympics</v>

756
00:35:57.400 --> 00:35:59.380
for I guess another decade or so.

757
00:35:59.380 --> 00:36:01.340
So do you really make money

758
00:36:01.340 --> 00:36:03.330
on televising and broadcasting Olympics?

759
00:36:03.330 --> 00:36:05.200
It costs a lotta money for the broadcast rights,

760
00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:06.735
and you have to actually do the work.

761
00:36:06.735 --> 00:36:10.600
Is it a really for-profit enterprise when you do that?

762
00:36:10.600 --> 00:36:15.550
<v ->I think we publicly have said that we broke even</v>

763
00:36:15.550 --> 00:36:17.730
to a slight profit on London.

764
00:36:17.730 --> 00:36:22.570
NBGE, our predecessor in Vancouver and Beijing

765
00:36:22.570 --> 00:36:25.592
said they lost couple hundred million dollars each.

766
00:36:25.592 --> 00:36:30.571
And within 120 days of buying the company,

767
00:36:30.571 --> 00:36:33.840
we were faced with, you used the phrase locked up,

768
00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:36.960
we were faced with an auction to either buy it

769
00:36:36.960 --> 00:36:40.140
or not buy it for the next decade,

770
00:36:40.140 --> 00:36:41.900
and it's a several billion dollar decision,

771
00:36:41.900 --> 00:36:46.090
which is not something we had done very often.

772
00:36:46.090 --> 00:36:50.200
And I have to tell ya I'm so glad we stomached it

773
00:36:50.200 --> 00:36:51.390
and said let's go for it,

774
00:36:51.390 --> 00:36:52.930
because I think yes the answer is

775
00:36:52.930 --> 00:36:56.150
it's a fantastic platform for our company.

776
00:36:56.150 --> 00:36:58.757
We launched The Voice during the Olympics.

777
00:36:58.757 --> 00:37:01.211
The Voice is the most successful show at NBC

778
00:37:01.211 --> 00:37:04.304
after Sunday Night Football.

779
00:37:04.304 --> 00:37:08.698
The Olympics in London, our estimates would be down 10%

780
00:37:08.698 --> 00:37:11.800
in terms of audience, because the time zone change.

781
00:37:11.800 --> 00:37:14.843
Beijing had Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals.

782
00:37:14.843 --> 00:37:16.960
We were up 10%.

783
00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:19.620
It was the largest event in television history.

784
00:37:19.620 --> 00:37:22.870
We went from a 200 million dollar loss to break even.

785
00:37:22.870 --> 00:37:26.082
If that continues in Sochi and beyond,

786
00:37:26.082 --> 00:37:29.060
it'll prove to be okay.

787
00:37:29.060 --> 00:37:30.907
But for the employees of the company,

788
00:37:30.907 --> 00:37:35.046
for our relevance to our distribution partners

789
00:37:35.046 --> 00:37:39.640
of all the channels, we can do more and more coverage.

790
00:37:39.640 --> 00:37:44.220
So for instance, we had 5,500 hours of Olympics,

791
00:37:44.220 --> 00:37:45.333
I think is the number.

792
00:37:46.200 --> 00:37:49.160
Go back 20 years it was in the hundreds.

793
00:37:49.160 --> 00:37:54.160
Go back just to China, it was maybe half or way less.

794
00:37:55.290 --> 00:37:59.400
And then we put every single event live streamed.

795
00:37:59.400 --> 00:38:02.330
Didn't do anything like that in China.

796
00:38:02.330 --> 00:38:06.360
So the chance to have more of our cable channels

797
00:38:06.360 --> 00:38:08.170
carry Olympics content, there was,

798
00:38:08.170 --> 00:38:09.810
way back it was called triple play,

799
00:38:09.810 --> 00:38:13.410
it was on three channels, we'll have it on 10 networks

800
00:38:13.410 --> 00:38:15.400
or thereabouts where you can watch.

801
00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:18.315
So if you're really a golf fan in Rio,

802
00:38:18.315 --> 00:38:21.330
golf will be an Olympic sport for the first time,

803
00:38:21.330 --> 00:38:24.440
we'll have every single piece of golf on the golf channel,

804
00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:29.170
and we'll have all the hockey probably on NBC Sports Net.

805
00:38:29.170 --> 00:38:33.030
So there's it's a real vibrancy,

806
00:38:33.030 --> 00:38:35.520
but it's a huge operation, thousands of people.

807
00:38:35.520 --> 00:38:36.720
They do a marvelous job.

808
00:38:36.720 --> 00:38:39.540
I thought the coverage was very proud,

809
00:38:39.540 --> 00:38:42.340
and it's an exciting thing to be part of,

810
00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:46.270
but it's, as a business matter, it's the engine,

811
00:38:46.270 --> 00:38:47.470
but in and of itself,

812
00:38:47.470 --> 00:38:49.120
we're not looking for it to make a huge profit.

813
00:38:49.120 --> 00:38:50.430
<v ->So from your current position,</v>

814
00:38:50.430 --> 00:38:52.660
if you say to the Olympic Committee I'd like

815
00:38:52.660 --> 00:38:54.610
to have squash as an Olympic sport,

816
00:38:54.610 --> 00:38:56.160
do you think you'd have influence now to get that done?

817
00:38:56.160 --> 00:38:57.530
<v ->I'd like to say that,</v>

818
00:38:57.530 --> 00:38:59.360
and I don't think it'll have any influence.

819
00:38:59.360 --> 00:39:02.440
I do think this current generation of squash players

820
00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:04.502
are great athletes, and it would be fun,

821
00:39:04.502 --> 00:39:07.420
but they're trying actually to be the next Olympic sport,

822
00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:08.930
but I'll stay outta that.

823
00:39:08.930 --> 00:39:13.930
<v ->What would you say is the single thing that happened</v>

824
00:39:13.990 --> 00:39:15.450
in your company that really made it take off?

825
00:39:15.450 --> 00:39:16.810
Was it Bill Gates' investment

826
00:39:16.810 --> 00:39:18.070
in your company many years ago?

827
00:39:18.070 --> 00:39:19.350
Was that the?

828
00:39:19.350 --> 00:39:21.650
<v ->Well there's different periods of time</v>

829
00:39:21.650 --> 00:39:24.250
that would have the answer to that.

830
00:39:24.250 --> 00:39:27.020
In my dad's formative age, I mean if you asked him,

831
00:39:27.020 --> 00:39:28.330
it would be making payroll

832
00:39:28.330 --> 00:39:33.330
when the one point the stock got to 75 cents.

833
00:39:33.577 --> 00:39:36.320
It came out at seven, went promptly down.

834
00:39:36.320 --> 00:39:40.150
There were regulatory worries, things never change,

835
00:39:40.150 --> 00:39:43.990
about distant broadcast signals.

836
00:39:43.990 --> 00:39:46.550
And therefore if you were trying to carry

837
00:39:46.550 --> 00:39:50.650
in Tupelo the CBS signal from Memphis,

838
00:39:50.650 --> 00:39:52.710
they weren't allowed to do it perhaps,

839
00:39:52.710 --> 00:39:56.360
and therefore there'd be no community antenna business.

840
00:39:56.360 --> 00:40:00.910
For me, certainly I would pick two things.

841
00:40:00.910 --> 00:40:05.910
One would be in 19, I think it was 97, stocks were low.

842
00:40:06.140 --> 00:40:07.904
We were wanted to build fiber optics.

843
00:40:07.904 --> 00:40:10.220
We had announced we were gonna build fiber.

844
00:40:10.220 --> 00:40:12.250
We're doing more and more fiber today,

845
00:40:12.250 --> 00:40:14.176
but back then, that was a new concept.

846
00:40:14.176 --> 00:40:19.176
And the market hated it, 'cause where was the return?

847
00:40:19.590 --> 00:40:20.918
And we wondered into Microsoft,

848
00:40:20.918 --> 00:40:22.983
and I had only met Bill Gates once,

849
00:40:22.983 --> 00:40:25.846
and he said I think you're gonna have a bigger business

850
00:40:25.846 --> 00:40:29.150
beyond television than you have in television.

851
00:40:29.150 --> 00:40:30.660
So to the question you asked earlier,

852
00:40:30.660 --> 00:40:33.248
that prediction pretty much is coming true.

853
00:40:33.248 --> 00:40:35.100
And we believed it,

854
00:40:35.100 --> 00:40:36.370
but we didn't know what the internet was,

855
00:40:36.370 --> 00:40:38.510
we just believed in data.

856
00:40:38.510 --> 00:40:42.070
And we asked him if he would invest,

857
00:40:42.070 --> 00:40:44.390
and he took a billion dollars,

858
00:40:44.390 --> 00:40:46.300
which was the largest amount of money Microsoft

859
00:40:46.300 --> 00:40:49.420
ever invested at that time, took nonvoting stock,

860
00:40:49.420 --> 00:40:50.395
did not come on the board,

861
00:40:50.395 --> 00:40:54.467
and did not ask us to carry any Microsoft products.

862
00:40:54.467 --> 00:40:56.780
Now why would he do that?

863
00:40:56.780 --> 00:41:00.320
He's first of all, Bill Gates, the smartest man I know.

864
00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:03.330
So he more than quadrupled his money in about three years,

865
00:41:03.330 --> 00:41:04.660
'cause he knew the market was wrong,

866
00:41:04.660 --> 00:41:06.992
and he was thinking that way.

867
00:41:06.992 --> 00:41:10.430
But he wanted to create a little competition

868
00:41:10.430 --> 00:41:12.360
between ourselves, and the phone companies,

869
00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:14.640
and anybody else to do this new data business

870
00:41:14.640 --> 00:41:16.240
that would become the internet.

871
00:41:16.240 --> 00:41:20.800
And he took the least likely successor, the cable industry,

872
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:22.410
and gave 'em a shot in the arm

873
00:41:22.410 --> 00:41:25.390
to go against the big phone industry.

874
00:41:25.390 --> 00:41:29.179
I'd say the other moment was buying AT&amp;T broadband.

875
00:41:29.179 --> 00:41:32.320
They were twice our size.

876
00:41:32.320 --> 00:41:33.980
They weren't really for sale.

877
00:41:33.980 --> 00:41:37.712
It was a very tricky deal to put together.

878
00:41:37.712 --> 00:41:42.550
But at the end of it, it established us as a company,

879
00:41:42.550 --> 00:41:46.630
as I talked earlier, that had reached a critical mass,

880
00:41:46.630 --> 00:41:50.973
at least at that moment in time back in early 2000s,

881
00:41:52.518 --> 00:41:55.590
to be able to start to innovate and to give better service.

882
00:41:55.590 --> 00:41:59.131
So for the first half of that period,

883
00:41:59.131 --> 00:42:01.776
since then I would say we were just putting together,

884
00:42:01.776 --> 00:42:03.014
still growing.

885
00:42:03.014 --> 00:42:06.000
The world changed with all these new products.

886
00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:11.000
The last three or four years, it's all about execution,

887
00:42:11.247 --> 00:42:15.510
service, on time, one hour service appointments,

888
00:42:15.510 --> 00:42:17.840
eventually make it like going to the doctor,

889
00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:20.270
I'll take the 9:15 slot,

890
00:42:20.270 --> 00:42:22.192
giving our technicians better tools,

891
00:42:22.192 --> 00:42:26.810
using today's modern things to make us better and better,

892
00:42:26.810 --> 00:42:28.160
and we have a long way to go,

893
00:42:28.160 --> 00:42:31.575
but I think that deal allowed us to invest

894
00:42:31.575 --> 00:42:35.240
and continue to invest in innovation and service.

895
00:42:35.240 --> 00:42:39.640
<v ->So based, you have 22 million cable subscribers</v>

896
00:42:39.640 --> 00:42:41.480
and many other millions of other subscribers.

897
00:42:41.480 --> 00:42:42.924
Based on what you see now,

898
00:42:42.924 --> 00:42:47.350
is the US economy growing at a faster clip than last year?

899
00:42:47.350 --> 00:42:48.630
Are you concerned about a slowdown?

900
00:42:48.630 --> 00:42:51.190
What do you get, kinda data do you get from your?

901
00:42:51.190 --> 00:42:54.384
<v ->The big shock for us, we were oblivious,</v>

902
00:42:54.384 --> 00:42:57.260
I was oblivious to those kinds of questions.

903
00:42:57.260 --> 00:42:59.120
Always looked at folks like yourself

904
00:42:59.120 --> 00:43:01.766
that touch many industries in many countries,

905
00:43:01.766 --> 00:43:06.766
and one day housing stopped, 2008.

906
00:43:07.050 --> 00:43:11.050
And all of a sudden, our subscriber losses were bigger,

907
00:43:11.050 --> 00:43:12.900
and we said wow.

908
00:43:12.900 --> 00:43:16.059
We never really appreciated all those new homes in America

909
00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:20.300
quite the way we were fighting over the same pie.

910
00:43:20.300 --> 00:43:23.240
So we're starting to see a little bit of hope

911
00:43:23.240 --> 00:43:24.940
in the housing business,

912
00:43:24.940 --> 00:43:27.510
which will be really great for those of us

913
00:43:27.510 --> 00:43:30.540
who wanna sell ya more products in your home.

914
00:43:30.540 --> 00:43:34.380
We're also, the nation's now, post-NBC Universal,

915
00:43:34.380 --> 00:43:38.755
I think the largest advertising recipient

916
00:43:38.755 --> 00:43:43.755
between the cable business locally, and NBC Universal,

917
00:43:44.020 --> 00:43:48.120
and all our cable channels, nationally and locally.

918
00:43:48.120 --> 00:43:49.750
So our advertising business now

919
00:43:49.750 --> 00:43:51.170
is very relevant to that question.

920
00:43:51.170 --> 00:43:55.650
That was not the case two years ago when we bought NBC.

921
00:43:55.650 --> 00:44:00.290
And we see everyone feeling probably the same thing,

922
00:44:00.290 --> 00:44:04.080
a pretty good recovery.

923
00:44:04.080 --> 00:44:07.640
We all wish it was, it's not as much as it was before,

924
00:44:07.640 --> 00:44:11.790
but clearly stable and steady as she goes with optimism

925
00:44:11.790 --> 00:44:16.270
that we're growing, I think a sense of nervousness.

926
00:44:16.270 --> 00:44:17.371
We could go right back down again

927
00:44:17.371 --> 00:44:22.210
if something too radically happens in a bad way.

928
00:44:22.210 --> 00:44:25.450
But I think we're certainly, we never slowed down.

929
00:44:25.450 --> 00:44:26.750
We obviously, right in the bottom,

930
00:44:26.750 --> 00:44:29.340
we spent 30 billion dollars to buy NBC.

931
00:44:29.340 --> 00:44:30.600
So we kind of,

932
00:44:30.600 --> 00:44:32.650
I'm a believer in a little bit

933
00:44:32.650 --> 00:44:33.880
what Warren Buffett has always said,

934
00:44:33.880 --> 00:44:37.730
which is in tough times, widen, take your risks,

935
00:44:37.730 --> 00:44:42.510
and in good times, it's easier for people to spend money,

936
00:44:42.510 --> 00:44:43.860
it's harder in tough times.

937
00:44:43.860 --> 00:44:46.340
And so it was a very tough decision

938
00:44:46.340 --> 00:44:48.710
to wanna buy the Olympics in the middle of the recession,

939
00:44:48.710 --> 00:44:50.278
buy NBC in the middle of the recession.

940
00:44:50.278 --> 00:44:52.770
Hopefully we're gonna keep coming out of it.

941
00:44:52.770 --> 00:44:55.860
<v ->So now that you are in control of NBC Universal,</v>

942
00:44:55.860 --> 00:44:58.450
you deal with creative types I assume, Hollywood types,

943
00:44:58.450 --> 00:44:59.730
television production.

944
00:44:59.730 --> 00:45:01.970
What's more complicated, dealing with regulators

945
00:45:01.970 --> 00:45:04.102
in Washington, or creative types in Hollywood?

946
00:45:04.102 --> 00:45:04.935
(audience laughter)

947
00:45:04.935 --> 00:45:05.768
What's more complicated?

948
00:45:05.768 --> 00:45:06.601
<v ->Well Chris Matthews is here somewhere.</v>

949
00:45:06.601 --> 00:45:08.134
I'll let him answer that question.

950
00:45:08.134 --> 00:45:11.654
No, I think we're, we've got wonderful.

951
00:45:11.654 --> 00:45:16.654
There's a great culture here with the talent in this company

952
00:45:18.450 --> 00:45:23.450
between CNBC, and MSNBC, and USA, and SciFi, and Bravo,

953
00:45:24.261 --> 00:45:29.261
E, and Golf, there's a wonderful mix of talent.

954
00:45:29.890 --> 00:45:31.131
You get out to California,

955
00:45:31.131 --> 00:45:35.270
we've got 15,000 employees I believe in California.

956
00:45:35.270 --> 00:45:37.978
A business we didn't count on that has proved

957
00:45:37.978 --> 00:45:41.800
to be amazing was the theme park business.

958
00:45:41.800 --> 00:45:44.320
So we got the company signed up,

959
00:45:44.320 --> 00:45:46.054
and we had to wait a year to close.

960
00:45:46.054 --> 00:45:48.920
And in the six months right in the middle,

961
00:45:48.920 --> 00:45:51.063
Harry Potter opened up in Orlando.

962
00:45:52.110 --> 00:45:56.610
Attendance surged 40% every day since then.

963
00:45:56.610 --> 00:46:00.739
And so we're now opening Harry Potter more Harry Potter,

964
00:46:00.739 --> 00:46:03.878
Harry Potter perhaps in California, in Japan,

965
00:46:03.878 --> 00:46:08.827
and we're investing in other theme parks and hotel rooms.

966
00:46:08.827 --> 00:46:13.280
One of the wonderful things is to diversify a bit,

967
00:46:13.280 --> 00:46:16.891
and we have about a billion dollars of cash flow

968
00:46:16.891 --> 00:46:18.342
coming from theme parks.

969
00:46:18.342 --> 00:46:21.590
We had zero in our business model

970
00:46:21.590 --> 00:46:23.520
for value when we bought the company.

971
00:46:23.520 --> 00:46:25.850
<v ->But you go to the Harry Potter rides,</v>

972
00:46:25.850 --> 00:46:28.183
you test any of the rides, you're doing all those things?

973
00:46:28.183 --> 00:46:29.780
<v ->I am the chief tester.</v>

974
00:46:29.780 --> 00:46:30.881
<v ->Okay.</v>

975
00:46:30.881 --> 00:46:31.873
(audience laughter)

976
00:46:31.873 --> 00:46:32.706
So do you have friends calling you all the time saying

977
00:46:32.706 --> 00:46:34.940
what about this cable show, you should do it differently,

978
00:46:34.940 --> 00:46:36.620
or lemme tell ya how to run your company,

979
00:46:36.620 --> 00:46:38.100
or do you ever get any of that?

980
00:46:38.100 --> 00:46:41.030
<v ->So of course you have some of that,</v>

981
00:46:41.030 --> 00:46:46.030
and my management technique is the same

982
00:46:48.020 --> 00:46:52.048
as it was before the deal, which is it's all about people,

983
00:46:52.048 --> 00:46:53.580
corny as that is.

984
00:46:53.580 --> 00:46:56.790
And so, and I think Steve Burke believes the same thing,

985
00:46:56.790 --> 00:46:57.950
so he went into NBC,

986
00:46:57.950 --> 00:47:00.240
and it takes time to put your team together.

987
00:47:00.240 --> 00:47:02.760
You never get it just right,

988
00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:05.090
and you always are making some changes.

989
00:47:05.090 --> 00:47:06.500
But I think we've got it pretty close

990
00:47:06.500 --> 00:47:08.060
to just right right now.

991
00:47:08.060 --> 00:47:10.199
We have a super person picking shows

992
00:47:10.199 --> 00:47:13.040
in Bob Greenblatt at NBC.

993
00:47:13.040 --> 00:47:16.020
He's gonna get grief when it fails and is praised

994
00:47:16.020 --> 00:47:16.860
when it succeeds,

995
00:47:16.860 --> 00:47:19.140
and there's gonna be more of that attention

996
00:47:19.140 --> 00:47:22.240
than any business going, 'cause it's NBC.

997
00:47:22.240 --> 00:47:24.540
We have the same thing at news,

998
00:47:24.540 --> 00:47:29.540
we have the same thing in sports, the same thing in movies.

999
00:47:29.910 --> 00:47:34.910
We had Les Mis to Ted to Battleship.

1000
00:47:36.090 --> 00:47:37.500
We've had some really good ones.

1001
00:47:37.500 --> 00:47:39.120
We've had some not so good ones.

1002
00:47:39.120 --> 00:47:41.260
That's the nature of the content business,

1003
00:47:41.260 --> 00:47:42.587
and I think for me personally,

1004
00:47:42.587 --> 00:47:44.271
you gotta try to be more even

1005
00:47:44.271 --> 00:47:48.070
and not go so high and go so low,

1006
00:47:48.070 --> 00:47:50.220
and try to continue to look at the people and say

1007
00:47:50.220 --> 00:47:52.090
are they really good, are they making the best decisions,

1008
00:47:52.090 --> 00:47:53.480
are you giving them the tools?

1009
00:47:53.480 --> 00:47:54.534
The thing that we've found,

1010
00:47:54.534 --> 00:47:58.560
and this is Jeff Immelt just said this,

1011
00:47:58.560 --> 00:48:00.380
he was a wonderful partner,

1012
00:48:00.380 --> 00:48:03.494
it just wasn't right for GE anymore to go make pilots

1013
00:48:03.494 --> 00:48:05.940
hoping to find the next hit.

1014
00:48:05.940 --> 00:48:08.784
They could build power plants somewhere else or energy.

1015
00:48:08.784 --> 00:48:12.323
And so all parts of the company

1016
00:48:12.323 --> 00:48:15.971
were getting less capital and less investment

1017
00:48:15.971 --> 00:48:17.592
and less attention.

1018
00:48:17.592 --> 00:48:22.080
And I don't believe I am from corporate I'm here to help,

1019
00:48:22.080 --> 00:48:26.040
but in the case of this company, we can give money.

1020
00:48:26.040 --> 00:48:30.620
We told our investors we have the balance sheet to invest.

1021
00:48:30.620 --> 00:48:32.560
So we're making more pilots than we've ever made,

1022
00:48:32.560 --> 00:48:34.850
we're spending more money at the them park

1023
00:48:34.850 --> 00:48:36.670
than there's been spent in 20 years.

1024
00:48:36.670 --> 00:48:37.960
In this cable market,

1025
00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:40.146
we've doubled our capital to improve service

1026
00:48:40.146 --> 00:48:43.430
and to improve fiber nodes and speed up

1027
00:48:43.430 --> 00:48:46.482
and get ready for X1 which requires more bandwidth.

1028
00:48:46.482 --> 00:48:51.482
And we're trying to walk that tight rope with investors,

1029
00:48:52.410 --> 00:48:53.628
but when push comes to shove,

1030
00:48:53.628 --> 00:48:56.540
we wanna invest in the businesses.

1031
00:48:56.540 --> 00:48:57.810
And in the case of NBC Universal,

1032
00:48:57.810 --> 00:49:00.880
I've never seen a company that has more opportunities.

1033
00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:04.410
All of them won't work, and that's new to us,

1034
00:49:04.410 --> 00:49:05.910
but it's all about getting the right people

1035
00:49:05.910 --> 00:49:07.570
and let them decide if it's the right show.

1036
00:49:07.570 --> 00:49:08.924
<v ->When you have some time to relax,</v>

1037
00:49:08.924 --> 00:49:12.269
what do you like to watch on television, your favorite show?

1038
00:49:12.269 --> 00:49:13.703
<v ->I hate that question.</v>

1039
00:49:13.703 --> 00:49:14.724
(audience laughter)

1040
00:49:14.724 --> 00:49:16.772
Golf.

1041
00:49:16.772 --> 00:49:17.750
<v ->Okay.</v>

1042
00:49:17.750 --> 00:49:20.460
<v ->It's nice and relaxing, and it's right for me.</v>

1043
00:49:20.460 --> 00:49:25.460
I watch, I've tried now to see some of every show,

1044
00:49:27.880 --> 00:49:30.850
every film, every new series that we do.

1045
00:49:30.850 --> 00:49:32.580
I can't do a hundred percent of that,

1046
00:49:32.580 --> 00:49:34.060
but I do my best.

1047
00:49:34.060 --> 00:49:37.750
I try to make sure that everybody who works

1048
00:49:37.750 --> 00:49:40.260
in the company knows I care about what they do.

1049
00:49:40.260 --> 00:49:42.650
I don't think it should be one person centric.

1050
00:49:42.650 --> 00:49:43.724
But when I'm relaxing,

1051
00:49:43.724 --> 00:49:45.780
I tend to go to the movies with my wife.

1052
00:49:45.780 --> 00:49:48.012
<v ->So my final question would be,</v>

1053
00:49:48.012 --> 00:49:49.870
you've had an incredible career,

1054
00:49:49.870 --> 00:49:53.430
you've built a great company, any regrets,

1055
00:49:53.430 --> 00:49:55.190
is there anything you wish you had done differently,

1056
00:49:55.190 --> 00:49:57.040
or you're very happy with where you are now,

1057
00:49:57.040 --> 00:49:58.399
no big mistakes?

1058
00:49:58.399 --> 00:50:00.280
<v ->I'm gonna leave that to somebody else.</v>

1059
00:50:00.280 --> 00:50:03.840
I'd say that, again, I think if you spend too much time

1060
00:50:03.840 --> 00:50:07.020
looking in the rear view mirror, it's not a good thing.

1061
00:50:07.020 --> 00:50:10.647
And I think it's just been a fantasy

1062
00:50:10.647 --> 00:50:13.164
for me to be able to sit here with you.

1063
00:50:13.164 --> 00:50:15.990
I think it's important for our company

1064
00:50:15.990 --> 00:50:20.180
that we advocate the excitement that the employees feel,

1065
00:50:20.180 --> 00:50:21.612
why people wanna work for us.

1066
00:50:21.612 --> 00:50:24.470
Sure we've made mistakes, but like my father said,

1067
00:50:24.470 --> 00:50:25.830
I never made a mistake,

1068
00:50:25.830 --> 00:50:28.380
it's always just has a slightly better way of doing it,

1069
00:50:28.380 --> 00:50:29.994
and we'll try to keep doing that,

1070
00:50:29.994 --> 00:50:32.820
but of course you make mistakes and have regrets,

1071
00:50:32.820 --> 00:50:34.900
but I try not to look back.

1072
00:50:34.900 --> 00:50:36.840
<v ->Well I wanna thank you very much for coming Brian,</v>

1073
00:50:36.840 --> 00:50:38.550
and I look forward to getting this

1074
00:50:38.550 --> 00:50:40.810
in my home as well sometime soon.

1075
00:50:40.810 --> 00:50:41.700
<v ->Anytime.</v>

1076
00:50:41.700 --> 00:50:43.392
<v ->Thank you very much.</v>

1077
00:50:43.392 --> 00:50:44.608
(audience applause)

1078
00:50:44.608 --> 00:50:46.775
Let me give you something.

1079
00:50:50.749 --> 00:50:51.595
<v ->Wow.</v>

1080
00:50:51.595 --> 00:50:54.470
<v ->First map of the District of Columbia.</v>

1081
00:50:54.470 --> 00:50:55.474
<v ->Perfect.</v>

1082
00:50:55.474 --> 00:50:56.307
<v ->Thank you all very much.</v>

1083
00:50:56.307 --> 00:50:57.824
Thank you Brian, great show, thank you.

1084
00:50:57.824 --> 00:51:02.727
Okay, that's great, thank you very much, appreciate it.