00:00You've been closely tracking these deals and the sector. I mean, Comcast has been through a lot,
00:04a lot of corporate transformation. What's the thinking behind this latest move from them?
00:09This is a deal that's been speculated forever. I mean, investors and analysts have really wanted
00:14Comcast to do this because Comcast trades at a low multiple relative to all of its peers,
00:19both in the cable space and in the media space. And the thought is, you know, they're getting a
00:24conglomerate discount. And by splitting it up, the thought is they're going to be able to unlock
00:28more value. Comcast executives said on the call where they explained why they were doing this,
00:33that basically both the broadband cable business and the media business, NBCUniversal, are facing
00:38a lot more competition than they have been in years past. And so the idea is if they're split up,
00:43they'll be able to focus on really competing in this, you know, this new world.
00:47Speaking of competing in the new world, is that any reason why BT and Verizon seem to be teaming up
00:52now?
00:53Yeah, it's all part of the same theme. So BT and Verizon, by announcing this joint venture
00:58where they're combining their international operations, they're basically acknowledging
01:02that international hasn't been as great of a performer. They're both using it as a way to
01:07really double down and focus on what they see as their core business, which is their local asset.
01:12So for BT, that means the UK. For Verizon, that means the US. Because it's a joint venture,
01:17they're able to offload it off the balance sheet, but then still participate in any upside that comes
01:21from really, you know, smushing these two together, removing duplative costs and using scale to their advantage.
01:27What are we going to talk about when you're at Sun Valley next week? I feel like we already have
01:30all the media deals.
01:30I know, all the deals have gotten announced. I mean, honestly, the Comcast deal is the most
01:34interesting because a lot of analysts have already speculated that by doing this, it's going to open
01:38up both the cable piece and the media piece for more M&A. Charter stock surged on the news Monday
01:44on the, you know, assumption that maybe something could happen. So I'll definitely be asking about all that.
01:49Could be interesting.
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