Comcast Never Planned to Build Out AWS Spectrum
Comcast never planned to build out its AWS spectrum licenses, which it won at auction along with some other cable operator members of SpectrumCo, Comcast CFO Michael Angelakis told investors at a Citigroup conference Thursday. He was asked about SpectrumCo’s recent deal to sell that spectrum to Verizon Wireless with Comcast and Verizon then marketing each other’s products. “We never really intended to build that spectrum, so therefore it’s a really good use of that spectrum,” he said. “We always said the spectrum had to be financially optimized and strategically optimized and I think with Verizon we were able to do that,” Angelakis said.
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Comcast and Verizon Wireless will begin introducing products under the partnership in four markets during the first quarter, Angelakis said. The products “won’t be overly sexy or sophisticated” at first, he said. But down the road the technology joint-venture Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House started with Verizon Wireless is expected to yield more interesting products that better integrate wireline and wireless services, he said. For now, “the tone of the relationship [with Verizon Wireless] is excellent and we're delighted to be working with them,” he said, “They have a terrific network and we think they're very innovative and we hope they think the same of us."
Comcast’s recent carriage deal with Disney (CD Jan 5 p12), is structured to give Comcast a broad set of rights to distribute Disney-owned programming to Comcast subscribers, Angelakis said. “I give the teams a lot of credit for working through the technologies, that some of it is here, and some of it is coming,” he said. Like its 2010 carriage deal with CBS, the Disney deal spans 10 years, he said. Despite anxiety around what will happen to video consumption that far in the future, Comcast prefers to reach long-term deals with major programmers, he said. “Having long term deals provides us some consistency on the pricing … and certainty so we know how to manage the business a little better,” he said. “There are very long, complex deals and I don’t think the teams want to spend every couple of years doing it,” he said.
No matter how technology changes the business, Angelakis said he thinks Comcast will be in a good position to benefit. “We feel we have the best network and the best connection to the home,” he said. Deals like the one with Disney will help Comcast “lead some of that evolution” spurred by new technology, he said. “We want to make sure we are able to provide the broadest array of content choices over any platform any time,” he said.
If more companies enter the pay-TV business, such as Apple or Google, they may become competitors “in an indirect way,” Angelakis said. “Our goal is to provide the best experience we can on the video side,” he said.