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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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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
(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.
Sponsored by:
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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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