President, Comcast
Watch CNBC's full interview with Comcast Chairman & CEO Brian Roberts and President Michael Cavanagh
Brian Roberts, Comcast Chairman and CEO, and Michael Cavanagh, Comcast President, join 'Squawk Box' to discuss the company's broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games, state of the media landscape, company revenue strategies and growth outlook, NBA rights deal, M&A outlook, state of the consumer, and more.
About Michael Cavanagh
In an August 2024 interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Comcast President Michael Cavanagh discussed the company's media strategy and financial outlook alongside Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts. Cavanagh stated that Comcast has "the making of a great company" and expressed a preference for investing in "something purely positive, such as the NBA," describing it as "a great partnership in the making." He also noted that each of Comcast's businesses is "in its own strong position making money," citing investments in cable footprint, business services, wireless, and Epic Universe in Florida, while returning capital to shareholders. Cavanagh commented on the broader economic environment, saying there is "a little softness in parks and other companies' results" and that the Federal Reserve has "done a good job, personally," adding that the economy is "getting closer to the time where we'll likely see some moves" regarding interest rates. He also highlighted the company's streaming growth, noting that Peacock has added more customers than have cord-cut in the last 12 to 24 months, and emphasized the role of sports programming, including the NBA and Olympics, in driving the streaming business.
Transcript (52 segments)
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Unknown0:10
Comcast, parent of NBC and NBC Universal. And Mike Cavanaugh. Giving medals but thinking trophies and trophies properties. Anything close to this behind? There's nothing?
Magnificent.
And in... Not bad here.
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Michael Cavanagh0:27
It's like two weeks of having a Super Bowl almost in terms of, but also in terms of how hard it is to do well. So it's definitely unique. It's one of the proudest moments I think since we've owned NBC Universal. The Olympics really, done perfectly. You reimagine our society. It's the whole world coming together, putting arms down, trying to celebrate the incredible personal achievements, team achievements, and the French government have innovation like Gold Zone or Squawk with the noise in the background. You don't hear it anymore. And the Eiffel Tower and surfing from Tahiti. I can't think of anything that makes me prouder, and the results so far are every reason we do this. Helps Peacock, NBC, advertisers, partners, and Mike and his team have, they're doing a great job. Covered, exchanging, and you can see basically everything you want to see however you want to see it, but the feeling and the spirit of the endeavor, it's been around like this for 100 years.
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Unknown1:52
Exactly right.
Felt it last night, Mike.
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Michael Cavanagh1:55
Brazil, like, hey, Brazil! But I think it's, it celebrates competition and celebrates a lot of great virtues, and being at a couple venues watching competitors acknowledge each other, stepping up to the podiums from countries that are at odds with each other, it's, you know, we all had it growing up. Much more of a, what the Olympic experience was all about. Part of recharging it. Clearly these games are doing. Such a crazy thing for our company.
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Unknown2:37
Part is the backdrop, but something else going on, because can you go and look at where we were in Rio or Pyeongchang. Tokyo tough given the pandemic. What about this and this moment?
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Michael Cavanagh2:49
First of all, let's start with, it's Paris. As the most coveted city in the... celebrities. Snoop Dogg. And the talent, and just... movie stars and just... this is the place to be right now for the next two weeks. I think the team and the spirit of our USA country, wanting to pull together at a time when we've been pulled apart is really important. And then that opening ceremony just captured it. The imagination of Olympics, an... as Mike said. Doing it unlike anybody else. The French, my hats off for them. They're doing a fabulous job.
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Unknown3:54
And Joe... where you started the question. Lot happened. Tremendous viewing all through the day. Because we get so many hours available on traditional linear television across all properties all day long on NBC and Peacock the other side. Both sites linear and streaming. On the streaming side, 7,000 hours. You can see everything. We've got Gold Zone, a viral hit in the States of people, ten boxes up on the screen and they're doing the whip-arounds and getting jazzed about really anything Olympics. All of these people are going for gold medals. Doesn't matter the sport if you know the story. So good at storytelling, you get into anything.
A big part of the story and all the streaming things taking off, people are seeing a new market and a new way to reach people.
How about that rugby finish yesterday? Right?
I didn't know there was rugby.
Like a return in... whatever happened...
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Michael Cavanagh5:23
A kind of moment exactly to your point, Becky. Maybe we haven't fallen in love with that sport all the time but suddenly you do, and of course Simone Biles and the comeback story. How the redemption and the disparity and... it's fantastic.
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Unknown5:38
Remember when you were negotiating to get the long-term deal, and content for sports and the NBA and what it can do for Peacock. 38% above last year. These properties are so valuable. Do you look back on that deal we got... we. I just work here... but...
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Michael Cavanagh6:10
So we looked at... I always looked at it as our R&D laboratory. Every athlete in every sport. Didn't work. The Peacock team did a fabulous job making that work. The Xfinity team with voice remote and integration being so simple. The signup. A lot behind the picture quality on USA we have a whole new version of high-def TV we're trying out. Improves quality. But that moment back then was existential when we made the deal with the International Olympic Committee. They've done a great job being partners with us. America is a really important part of the Olympic movement, the NBC brand helped back then. And still does.
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Unknown6:50
Still does. Met with them the other day. They're very proud of the coverage and the emotion we bring to the broadcasts, and company and have it work well beyond our highest expectations?
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Michael Cavanagh7:14
And then Paris.
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Unknown7:15
Fantastic.
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Michael Cavanagh7:15
And then Paris.
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Unknown7:17
Right way. Raises the question about repeating this. Milan up next. Then you've got L.A. Then after that you're going back I think to the French Alps, right?
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Michael Cavanagh7:27
Uh-huh.
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Unknown7:28
It gets...
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Michael Cavanagh7:30
Yep. The bar is set for spectacular backdrop here. We got all of our great creators, and, in Hollywood. Comes to L.A., imagine what L.A.'s going to be able to do to create their version of an open ceremony to stand up to what Paris just did. I think we'll be up for it, but it's going to be fun to watch it happening.
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Unknown7:52
I wish it solved all of the problems for media. Year, obviously. Theme parks, always comes back. Maybe... so hot after the pandemic you can't expect that to keep up, but where do we find growth from here on out?
Let me start. I think, Mike, feel free to partner on this, but I think we have seen this transition in the business coming. So let's start with our broadband business. We have 32 million broadbands. I think an enviable position. More fiber, more connections, and, yes, now more competition. But we're surviving that in a way where we're, that we're making, the bet we're making, people will use broadband more and more. Take the Olympics. All the streaming we're talking about, all that volume, requires you to have a great broadband connection. At the ability. More camera angles. Alternative telecasts even if not the Olympics. But the Olympics really shows you what's possible with streaming sports. Fantastic for high-quality streaming business. Go on to favorite NBC Universal. What's happening with media. Well, we've added more customers in Peacock than people have cord cut in the last 12, 24 months. We have a plan to make it to the other side in, the digital side. And so... then being sports, as a central. One of the reasons the NBA makes so much sense for us, and I believe we got the best package, because we have the most regular season games and the most playoff games. League or Tour de France. Then to college football. And we have on and on and on.
Keeps them from ever dropping.
In between you're watching Jurassic. You're watching SNL and Poker Face.
Very soon...
That, too. And then we have coming out The Jackal. We have Wicked. How about the Minions in the opening ceremony? Fantastic. So the company writ large starts with broadband, works into streaming with hybrid NBC and Peacock working so well together, and you mentioned studios go up and down but we have a great team, a great forecast. And theme parks what we would...
Even having air conditioning for you guys.
Barry Diller sitting where you were last week makes the arguments some kind of settlement made with Warner Brothers and TNT and possibly come back to everybody and say, look, a package, recarve all of this stuff. What do you think?
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Michael Cavanagh11:29
I think the NBA is super thorough in how they do their work. Been very impressed with everything that Adam Silver has organized. We're excited about our world. We'll stay tuned, but I'm pretty confident that we'll have our package moving along here and a year from now wish it was a year sooner. That the games, just have the... the USA basketball game...
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Unknown12:10
Checking in to see what things are doing?
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Michael Cavanagh12:12
A little all of the above. Spent a little time with the International Olympic Committee, U.S. Olympic Committee getting ready for the L.A. Games. A good amount of business but have had some fun. I got to see the women's gymnastics. Great night for the U.S. Seeing the national flag go up. A big memory. Beach volleyball. One of the best in sports, electricity and Nadal Djokovic. Hopefully not his last, but maybe.
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Unknown12:43
Mike's having too much fun.
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Michael Cavanagh12:44
I'm having a lot of fun.
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Unknown12:45
You, Brian?
My family's coming over in a few days and go out then and see a lot of sporting events. I came over several times before, and, again, I just can't say enough wonderful things... smoothly. Got a long way to go and I can't wait to be a part of it.
We wish everything was... thinking about sports and the NBA and how excited I am to... I wasn't before. Betting, and I always say. You hear me talking about it, but I watch all the NBA games now because I have a stake. It's going to go state to state eventually. Everybody's going to have it and maybe I'll bet on rugby? Sports is so incredibly valuable. Especially when you have $5 on the game, what you're seeing with Peacock having every sporting event there, and you're in control of your... or sit back on NBC and just have the traditional broadcasts. We're trying to appeal to every... history. That's what this is, now becoming, and so what imagines in the future. Whether it's betting or whether it's camera angles or higher def quality or more choices, we want to be the company to bring you that.
Do you want to buy something? Are you jonesing to do anything like that?
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Michael Cavanagh14:30
Whoa. No, I'm not. I said this on the earnings call. We have the making of a great company. So we'd rather invest in something purely positive, such as the NBA. Big investment. We think we have a great partnership in the making. We're excited about where they're taking the sport. All of the other things out there. There's good and some negatives, and this is just good. So I think that's the trajectory and we... push our teams to say, where can we grow? Where should we invest? And we put a tremendous amount of money back into our own business. Add a million passings in the cable business. More footprint growth. Driving the business services business. Driving the wireless business. So on the cable side of the business, and at NBC, you know, Christopher Nolan coming over to our studio thanks to the great work by the team there, it's a way to grow. It's got a great director and lo and behold you end up with a pile of Oscars. Going after the NBA. They'll be more, and then putting, you know, quite a few billions of dollars into Epic Universe in Florida. That's the better... that and returning capital to our shareholders has been a good... tough way to do it versus just go build around the great assets we already have.
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Unknown16:16
Go to ask about those problems, though. Do you expect more... maybe we here at CNBC here, do you expect a lot more consolidation or do you think actually the regulatory environment there won't be. By the way, maybe some of these companies continue to have problems and maybe an opportunity in the future?
You can't control those kind of things. So what you do is what Mike just said very articulately, play your own game. And we just saw with Paramount, a new, somebody came in and said, we think there is a better way. So we wish them well. David Ellison, met him once or twice. Smart, capable people. Maybe consolidation say you hope... several businesses in transition, have the strongest balance sheet, turn capital to shareholders and be consistent. I would say pick a word that has defined us for a long time it's kind of be consistent and patient. Try to build a very, very special and unique company. It all comes together in a moment like this, a chance to celebrate.
Our viewers will be watching Jay Powell later today, and his decision on interest rates. I know fundamentally you guys are just playing your own game and doing those things, but what do you look at, with the interest environment and what it might mean?
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Michael Cavanagh17:43
It's more what's happening with the consumer. A little softness in parks. Other companies' results, maybe a little... finding the right balance between getting inflation under control and keeping the economy going. I think the Fed's done a good job, personally. Right this minute, that hasn't impeded our...
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Unknown18:16
That's not what it is. You're right. I think about the mergers and first two years, paying down debt trying to somehow... you know, hope that eventually it's going to pay off. But there's no guarantee. I love our company. And the team that we've assembled and we've got a plan and we're going to go out and execute.
And watch Squawk Box.
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Michael Cavanagh18:35
Squawk Box.
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Unknown18:36
What else do you need? And it's... I mean, if you want, we'll go to 9:00. If that's... you know, you tell us.
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Michael Cavanagh18:44
We're...