Why did Comcast ever buy NBC?
My guest today is Peter Kafka, chief correspondent at Business Insider and host of Channels, a podcast about the media industry. And it’s a big week for the media industry — Comcast just announced that it’s splitting itself up, into the Comcast broadband company and the NBCUniversal entertainment company.
This dream, that you can combine distribution with big splashy entertainment properties, has failed time and again. But Comcast tried the content plus pipes strategy for longer than most. So Peter and I discussed what happened in the media and broadband industries over the last 15 years, and what might happen next.
Read the full interview transcript on The Verge.
Links:
Comcast is cutting NBCUniversal loose | Business Insider
Comcast’s split could make or break Peacock | The Verge
Comcast and NBCUniversal will go it alone. But for how long? | NYT
Comcast split shows bigger is no longer better | Deadline
A cable scion’s hardest deal yet: breaking up his family’s company | WSJ
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Henry Blodget on the Software Selloff Hysteria and the Problem for OpenAI
A year ago, all of the talk was about how the big AI companies were wildly overvalued. Everyone was calling it a bubble. Fast forward to now, and a dominant idea in the markets is that AI is so powerful that all kinds of legacy businesses — particularly software — could go to zero. So where does the truth lie? And what now for AI valuations? On this episode, recorded live at the On Air podcast festival in Brooklyn on February 25, we catch up again with Henry Blodget, the former Wall Street analyst turned Business Insider CEO, who is now the founder of Regenerator. In a wide-ranging conversation, Henry argues against the software doom scenario, and sees problems for OpenAI as it faces massive spending costs with stiff competition.
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What’s next for Netflix and Paramount in the Warner Bros. battle
Hey everyone, it’s Nilay. Decoder is on our holiday break. We’ve got a lot of fun stuff coming up in the New Year, though, including a special Decoder Live at CES. Stay tuned for more details, including how to RSVP for free tickets.
In the meantime, we’ve got a great episode of the podcast Channels, featuring two of the best media reporters in the business. Host Peter Kafka sat down with Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw to talk about the bidding war between Paramount SkyDance and Netflix over Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s the biggest story in entertainment right now, and this episode breaks down everything you need to know about the contentious acquisition.
Links:
"Neither Side Is Used to Losing”: Lucas Shaw on the battle for Warner Bros. | Channels
Five things we’re getting wrong about Warner Bros.′ Netflix deal | Bloomberg
Warner Bros.’ bidders brace for a fight that will last months | Bloomberg
WBD wants its shareholders to reject Paramount’s latest offer | The Verge
There are no good outcomes for the Warner Bros. sale | The Verge
Netflix is “100% committed” to releasing WB films in theaters | The Verge
Netflix is buying Warner Bros. for $83 billion | The Verge
Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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AI Is Upending Law. Is That A Sign For The Rest Of Us? — With Melia Russell
Melia Russell is a senior correspondent at Business Insider. She joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how AI services are already making inroads in the legal profession, helping lawyers dig through countless documents via natural language search and compression weeks long research processes into minutes. We discuss what's happening, how it's impacting legal jobs already, and why it's likely an early indication of what's to come for professional services more broadly. Hit play for a fascinating deep dive into one of the more advanced applications of AI today.
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Never Ever Getting Back Together? The Trump/Elon Breakup
After reportedly speaking to President Trump on the phone, Elon Musk took to Twitter, on Wednesday, to say he regrets “some” of his tweets about President Trump — but that doesn’t mean all is forgiven. As the dust settles on last week’s cross-platform showdown, the long-term consequences from the breakup of the world’s richest man and its most powerful one are just beginning to emerge.
So, Kara gathered a panel of four expert guests to unpack how the feud ignited, who holds the most leverage, why a ceasefire took place, if it’ll last, and what it all means for the future of tech, politics and power.
Henry Blodget is the co-founder and former CEO of and editor-in-chief of Business Insider. Before that, he was a tech analyst on Walls Stree. You can find him on Substack at Regenerator.
Kirsten Grind is an investigative business reporter at The New York Times, the author of two books, and the winner of more than a dozen national awards.
Kristen Soltis Anderson is a pollster, contributing Opinion writer for The New York Times, author, and co-founder of Echelon Insights.
Rick Wilson is a former Republican political strategist and ad-make. He is a co-founder of the Lincoln Project and you can find him on Substack or listen to his podcast The Enemies List.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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Henry Blodget on AI, Dot-Coms, and What's Changed In 25 Years
What does history say about how big the AI boom can get, and who will ultimately win out? When does a boom turn into a bubble that turns into a bust? On this episode of the podcast, we speak to Henry Blodget, the founder of Business Insider (and Joe's old boss there). In the late '90s, Henry was one of the most well-known Wall Street analysts covering internet stocks, before the crash and recriminations, which ended up in his lifetime ban from the industry. His new project is a publication called Regenerator, which will again focus on business and tech. We discuss the state of the AI boom, and what lessons we can draw from the dot-com era. We also talk politics, what's changed on Wall Street over the last 25 years or so, and a bit on the state of the media business.
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Investors are either ghosting, quiet quitting or rewriting their entire playbook
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. This week, Natasha and Alex interviewed one of their favorite reporters, Business Insider's Melia Russell! The trio chatted through how the role of a venture capitalist is changing. That means we spoke about emerging fund managers, seasoned operators, and, of course, Russell's latest story about how some investors are re-writing the playbooks when it comes to maternity leave policies at their firms.
I don't want to tease out all the hot takes, but let's just say that this dispatch is a tad blunt. For one, apparently, no one thinks that venture firm M&A is a thing other than us. Anyways, we think you'll love the episode, learn something new about how venture is changing, and probably have a take on whether this is natural job cycle stuff or true structural changes.
We're back Friday with our weekly roundup, which, as you can imagine, is going to be packed. Chat soon!
Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, a show that details how our stories come together and more!
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.
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(Bonus) Peter Kafka on Media, Hollywood, Substack and TikTok
As promised, here’s Recode’s Peter Kafka, the dean of the media reporters, someone we should have had on the podcast a long time before this. Do checkout his podcast, Recode Media with Peter Kafka.
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295: ‘Signing Up to Take Some Vitamins’, With Peter Kafka
Peter Kafka returns to the show to discuss the news from Apple's "Time Flies" event -- new Apple Watches, new non-Pro iPads, and particularly the Apple One services bundle.
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Links:
“Ricky Jay’s Magical Secrets” — Mark Singer’s wondrous profile for The New Yorker in 1993. I just burst out laughing when I re-read this snippet I quoted from that piece for DF.
The complete Ricky Jay archives at DF.
Spotify’s statement griping that Apple One constitutes anticompetive behavior.
The latest episode of Peter’s own podcast, Recode Media, with special guest Ben Thompson.
Apple’s “Time Flies” event video.
My thoughts and observations on the event and announcements.
“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” — Apple’s new retro style commercial for Apple Watch Family Setup.
This episode of The Talk Show was edited by Caleb Sexton.
The screw-up-billionaire, quantum computers, and the skewering of Zuckerberg
Kara and Scott take a victory lap as SoftBank buys out Adam Neumann, the founder of weWork for a cool $1.7 billion. They talk about what the future might hold, now that Google has unveiled its quantum computer. Tesla proved Scott wrong and came out with some really big earnings this week. We also hear from Senior Recode reporter, Peter Kafka about what to expect from the streaming wars as Apple debuts its own platform. Winners are the women of Congress, who absolutely skewered Mark Zuckerberg in a Congressional hearing.
Here is more information on Peter Kafka's Code Media Conference!
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248: ‘Equally Confused’ With Peter Kafka
Special guest Peter Kafka — executive editor at Recode and longtime reporter in the fields of media and technology — joins the show to discuss the announcements at last week’s “Show Time” event: Apple News+, Apple Card, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV Channels and TV+.
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Links
Kafka: "Apple’s Plan for Its New TV Service: Sell Other People’s TV Services".
Kafka's take on the event.
My brief thoughts on the event.
Designer Wyatt Mitchell's exquisite white jumpsuit.
"Joker" teaser, from director Todd Phillips.
Yours truly on Kafka’s Recode Media podcast back in 2016.
Figuring out Apple's TV plans with Recode’s Peter Kafka
Will Apple's new foray into streaming be able to swim in the same waters as Netflix and Disney, or will it go the way of Verizon's Go90? Recode executive editor Peter Kafka and Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel discuss Apple's plan for streaming, news, and more.
Subscribe to Recode Media with Peter Kafka.
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In the Tweet Mix
This week's show includes a very special attempt at an actual introduction. That's right, we're rolling out the red carpet for Nicholas Carlson, Business Insider's chief correspondent. The professionalism doesn't last for long, though, as we quickly devolve into the mathematical definition of a hypecheck, the FCC's role in the future of the internet, and Apple's new take on photo management.
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