Comcasted: How Ralph and Brian Roberts Took Over America’s TV, One Deal at a Time

Comcasted: How Ralph and Brian Roberts Took Over America’s TV, One Deal at a Time [Hardcover]

Joseph N. DiStefano (Author)

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

If you’re wondering who or what is next on Comcast’s “to-do” list–stay tuned. Be sure to take this eye-opening, rare look inside an American corporate dynasty that began as a small franchise in Tupelo, Mississippi, and grew to become the nation’s biggest cable TV company and fastest-growing Internet provider. With the tenacious investigative skills and gusto of the seasoned reporter, Joseph N. DiStefano has written a must-read history of this vital industry and its principal player, as well as the unauthorized biography of Comcast’s founder, Ralph Roberts, and his son and successor, Brian. Though rivals like Fox News owner and satellite TV baron Rupert Murdoch continue to nip at its heels, though consumer discontent simmers, Comcast, with allies in small-town city halls and Washington, D.C., as well as powerful companies like Microsoft, continues to exert influence over Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and every TV viewer. We are, indeed, all COMCASTed.Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Philadelphia Inquirer business reporter DiStefano strikes a hard-hitting tone in his profile of Comcast cable kings Ralph L. Roberts and son Brian. The nation’s top merchant of TV news, sports, movies and pornography, Comcast has attempted to take over some of America’s largest companies over the last 20 years, and has made some powerful friends along the way. The elder Roberts is a captivating, forceful, self-invented personality, and DiStefano briskly traces his rise, including his marriage to socialite Suzanne Fleisher, which blended her family connections and wealth with his aggressive business ability. The author charts Comcast’s major business forays, like the purchases of stakes in QVC, a merger with AT&T Broadband and the unsuccessful $66 billion bid by Brian Roberts in 2004 to take over Disney. Although DiStefano addresses the media’s criticism of Brian’s debacle (Business Week headlined with “Brian Blew the Big One”), the younger Roberts eventually emerges as an equally capable and even more compelling figure than his father, someone who “relentlessly pushed for a place in the company even as his father tried to warn him off.” DiStefano possesses an unflinching eye for detail, and the book offers many sharp, colorful anecdotes centered on such financial heavyweights as Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller. (Apr.)
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About the Author

JOSEPH N. DISTEFANO is an award-winning business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware.