Outgoing Charter CEO says there's 'pain to come' as TV gives way to streaming

Charter Communications Chief Executive Officer Tom Rutledge volition beryllium stepping down arsenic the company's CEO connected Dec. 1. He volition stay arsenic enforcement president until November 2023, erstwhile his declaration expires.

Rutledge referred to his determination to permission arsenic "retirement," but the astir 70-year-old executive, who has been successful the manufacture for 50 years, told CNBC successful an exclusive interrogation helium isn't acceptable to permission the concern completely.

When Rutledge took implicit Charter successful 2012, the institution had conscionable emerged from bankruptcy. At the time, it had a marketplace valuation of little than $6 billion. By September 2021, fueled by the company's acquisition of Time Warner Cable 5 years earlier, the company's marketplace capitalization deed astir $130 billion.

This twelvemonth hasn't been arsenic benignant to Rutledge oregon Charter investors, arsenic shares person fallen 47%. Charter's existent marketplace valuation is astir $55 billion.

In a wide-ranging interview, Rutledge discussed cable's future, the industry's caller valuation dip, the distressed futures of broadcast and cablegram TV, contention from fixed wireless and fiber, and wherefore helium felt bold capable to get Time Warner Cable successful 2016.

This interrogation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

CNBC's Alex Sherman: Why discontinue now?

Tom Rutledge: Well, that's a bully question. You know, a mates of years ago, I started this readying process. Fifty years ago, I'd really had a household emergency. I was traveling the satellite and came location [instead of going to college] and started arsenic a technician successful cable, Aug. 15, 1972. I came location and worked my mode done assemblage arsenic a tech. I wasn't readying connected getting into the cablegram business. But evidently I've spent my full vocation successful cablegram and I truly similar it, and I truly deliberation there's a batch much to travel successful presumption of opportunity. And truthful a mates of years ago, I thought that'd beryllium an absorbing day to benignant of commencement reasoning astir retiring. I'm besides going to beryllium 70 astatine the extremity of this enforcement chairmanship period. So it seemed to maine similar it was clip to walk the baton, and yet I would similar to enactment progressive successful the concern and enactment progressive successful the industry. But I deliberation it's due astatine this constituent to crook it over.

You retrieve the nonstop day you started? Is determination immoderate value to wherefore you remembered that day?

You know, it's an unusual date. The lone crushed I retrieve it is due to the fact that it's the nonstop aforesaid time I started with Time Inc. successful 1977, truthful due to the fact that it's the nonstop aforesaid day, I inactive cognize it aft 50 years. It's connected immoderate of my documents and I'm capable to recollect it. And I retrieve wherefore I went home, too, due to the fact that we were having this household emergency. My begetter was terminally sick astatine the time, and truthful I retrieve the date.

Just to springiness radical a small spot of context, tin you picture what the cablegram manufacture looked similar successful this state erstwhile you archetypal started?

Time Inc. was the second-biggest cablegram company. ATC was the institution I went to enactment for. Actually, erstwhile I archetypal started successful 1972, we were gathering a tiny cablegram strategy successful the suburbs of Pennsylvania — of Pittsburgh, Penn. The institution I was progressive with, Eastern Telecom, was a precise tiny household controlled institution that wanted to bid connected the Pittsburgh franchise. Urban franchising was conscionable coming along. There was nary outer TV. The lone products we had astatine that clip were off-air broadcast. The archetypal cablegram strategy I worked connected was really a ground-up caller build. We had 24 channels of capability, which was mode much than we had channels to fill. That was built successful anticipation of the benignant of aboriginal that we thought we could get retired of this industry. So, precise tiny companies. The biggest cablegram institution successful the manufacture astatine that clip had astir a cardinal customers. I deliberation the full manufacture had astir 12 million, retired of the full United States, and it was chiefly conscionable successful agrarian areas wherever determination was nary TV reception.

I privation to inquire what I deliberation is the cardinal question moving guardant for cablegram from an capitalist standpoint. We're seeing the archetypal large signs of broadband maturation plateauing. Cable TV is intelligibly a dying industry, seemingly accelerating. Landline telephone has already died to immoderate degree. There is immoderate maturation successful the wireless facet of things. But for 10 years, I've been told by cablegram executives however the cablegram concern fundamentally is simply a amended concern than the wireless industry, which has debased margins and shrinking ARPUs. So if I'm an investor, wherefore americium I investing successful cablegram today?

Well, benignant of, for each the aforesaid reasons you ever invested successful it. If you spell back, we were a connectivity institution close from the beginning. We were connecting broadcast signals to customers who couldn't get them. It was an integrated merchandise from the mode it was sold, but from a technological constituent of view, we've been a connectivity institution from the beginning. Through the years, we've managed to person a regulatory accidental to get into telephony. We ended up owning the wireline telephony concern fundamentally and became the large supplier of that service. In the process we invented precocious velocity broadband and took that connectivity to wherever we are today. The accidental that we person going guardant is to integrate wireless services — mobility, cellular work — into wide wireline connectivity and to merchantability that successful a mode that reduces customers bills and causes america to person a amended merchandise and a amended terms than our competitors, and a bundle for consumers that they can't truly replicate anyplace else.

When you look astatine wherever we are contiguous successful presumption of penetration, you speech astir businesses declining: Yes, video is coming isolated to a definite grade due to the fact that it's overpriced, but that doesn't mean determination isn't a aboriginal video business. Wireline telephony has been substituted by mobile telephony. Broadband inactive has a batch of maturation imaginable successful it. But erstwhile you look astatine america arsenic a institution and look astatine our mobile portion and our broadband piece, and you look astatine each the gross oregon costs that customers person for their connectivity services, the broadband portion of their connectivity measure is really rather tiny comparative to the mobile piece, and broadband capableness successful presumption of information throughput is rather large.

When you deliberation astir what the mean broadband measure is, successful our institution with promotions and everything else, our mean gross per lawsuit is astir $64. The mean mobile lawsuit wrong our footprint is spending astir $135 a period connected mobile work — aggregate lines done for each members of the household. When you adhd up the idiosyncratic enactment prices of $60 a enactment times the mean fig of radical per household, you get that $135 number, approximately. So there's a batch much wealth being spent connected mobile than determination is connected broadband. And yet broadband is simply a importantly richer merchandise from a information throughput perspective. And we tin really marque the mobile product, which is utilized 85% of the clip successful the location oregon successful the bureau and connected the Wi-Fi system, we tin marque that an adjacent faster work successful the location and successful the office, and we tin marque it a little costly service.

I retrieve erstwhile we launched the triple play for wireline, information and video, the mean telephone measure successful the New York metropolitan country was astir $78 [per month]. We brought that down to $30 and ended up having the bulk of the customers. I deliberation we person the aforesaid accidental successful mobile. Mobile, yes, is simply a afloat penetrated concern successful the country, not increasing that fast, but if you look astatine wherever we are successful mobile, we're not good penetrated. And truthful we've got tremendous upside for years to come.

OK, 2 questions there. First, are you advocating, then, that the bull cablegram thesis is tied up successful this wireless maturation communicative — adjacent though Charter doesn't ain a nationalist web and, to your point, adjacent if 85% of calls are successful the home, 15% aren't? So, wireless isn't fundamentally a location product. And the 2nd question is, precise overmuch related to that, for years now, the bull capitalist thesis has been broadband growth. But betwixt fixed wireless and this burgeoning fibre play that we are seeing much concern successful — you're going to person much contention determination than you've ever had before. So does that mean that broadband maturation is nary longer the large maturation communicative it erstwhile was?

No, I deliberation there's plentifulness of broadband maturation to get for america and there's continued broadband adoption to get for the full industry. There are inactive consumers that don't usage broadband. There are inactive radical who substitute truly precocious velocity broadband with mobile-only broadband. They're mostly income-related issues, but there's inactive maturation successful stock to get for america and there's inactive important maturation successful upside, and there's important maturation successful caller construction. Don't forget, we're gathering retired agrarian America and we're gathering retired continued maturation successful the lodging banal successful the United States connected a regular basis. Over the past 5 years, we've built astir a cardinal homes a year. On apical of that, going forward, I deliberation we tin physique further agrarian expansion. We already won commitments to physique 1.1 cardinal oregon much agrarian households with broadband service. We expect to get precise precocious penetrations successful those areas. So there's tons of broadband maturation going guardant arsenic well. But the combined accidental to make a unified merchandise betwixt broadband and mobility has adjacent much upside successful aggregate than conscionable broadband maturation alone.

Just to enactment a pin connected that past point, though, bash you expect broadband maturation to look thing similar what it's looked to the past, say, five, 7 oregon 9 years?

I deliberation erstwhile you aggregate it each up, it's got the imaginable to beryllium similar that. Yes. That's inactive reasonable.

In different words, what we've seen this past twelvemonth is simply a blip betwixt pandemic pull-through effects and macroeconomic difficulty?

That's my view. I mean, obviously, arsenic you scope afloat penetration, you're going to person immoderate slowing down successful growth. At immoderate point, it gets to the household maturation rate. But I don't spot that for 5 years oregon more. I deliberation there's continuous opportunity. I bash deliberation if you look astatine the inclination lines, 2020 was a monolithic blip successful presumption of maturation and adjacent 2021 had maturation associated with the pandemic that pulled guardant a batch of growth.

Then you had a batch of user behaviour changes arsenic a effect of the pandemic successful presumption of mobility, which inactive haven't afloat unwound. We're seeing immoderate signs that it's unwinding. I deliberation it's much of the pull-forward contented and the deficiency of enactment than it is our accidental to grow. And so, yes, there's caller contention that you mentioned successful presumption of fixed wireless, and determination are applications wherever that makes immoderate consciousness arsenic a marketplace product. I deliberation our products are overmuch different. For anybody who wants to usage video oregon immoderate important usage of data, our products are overmuch better. That doesn't mean if you ain an crystal pick motortruck that you mightiness privation to person a fixed broadband work that looks astatine a cellphone tower. Or if you unrecorded successful a agrarian country wherever there's nary service, and that compartment operation tin scope you, it's amended than the existent outer services that are provided successful those areas.

So, not to accidental that determination isn't competition, and yes, there's been fibre expansion, though it hasn't truly changed overmuch implicit the past 10 years. The gait of that hasn't changed overmuch implicit the past 10 years, adjacent notwithstanding each the announcements that person been made recently. It takes clip to physique retired infrastructure. It's precise expensive. All of those who've done it successful the past person failed. You know, if you look astatine Verizon's FiOS, they ended up selling astir of it. Almost each overbuilders of carnal infrastructure don't bash good successful the agelong term. So I deliberation the macroeconomic forces that person ever affected overbuilders volition proceed to impact them and impact the gait of construction.

I deliberation we're successful beauteous bully signifier from a competitory constituent of view. But that's not to accidental determination won't beryllium continued contention from outer companies similar Elon Musk's [Starlink] and Amazon's company and the fixed wireless providers. We've had outer contention successful the past, though that appears to person gone distant to immoderate extent. At 1 clip broadcasting was considered our competitor. We've had antithetic infrastructure competitors, communications, competitors, and we volition successful the future. But the beauteous happening astir what we've built is that we person this monolithic infrastructure. It's ubiquitously deployed and it's precise inexpensive connected a comparative ground to upgrade it to get much capableness retired of it.

Does it marque consciousness successful this state to travel the way of what we person seen successful Europe and different countries wherever there's yet convergence betwixt wireless existing wireless companies and cablegram companies successful the signifier of mergers? Obviously regulators would person to OK it. But adjacent successful concept, does that marque consciousness successful this country?

Sure. At immoderate level, close now, we person a acceptable of wireless customers. As I said before, astir of the bits are really flowing done our network. Right present we lease abstraction connected a mobile bearer for the work that's distant from the location and distant from the office, which progressively is becoming little dependable intensive. Just axenic broadband successful galore ways. You tin spot wherever antithetic companies mightiness privation to enactment assets unneurotic to marque that enactment amended and much efficiently successful the future. But we don't request to bash that close present from our perspective.

That doesn't mean that determination aren't assets retired determination that we could usage successful operation with the different assets we person to bring an adjacent amended work to customers successful the future. But close now, we're successful precise bully shape. We person a bully MVNO [mobile virtual web operator]. We person bully margins successful our mobile business. We're capable to link that into our wireline concern and really amended the offload onto our wireline business. And we person caller frequencies successful the presumption of CBRS [citizens broadband vigor service] spectrum which allows america to make an situation wherever we really tin offload immoderate of the leased work onto our ain network. So, I tin spot however assets tin beryllium mixed and matched successful the future. But there's nary contiguous request for america to bash anything.

Still, is that wherever we're going to yet going? At immoderate constituent successful the adjacent five, 10 years, volition we person merged wireless cablegram companies successful this country?

Uh, you know, yes, I bash deliberation that. Some of the assets that are successful each of those defined companies present volition beryllium successful different companies.

What astir cablegram consolidation? I've heard speculation that you guys are funny successful the Suddenlink plus that's being marketed by Altice close now. Do you expect to get importantly larger than wherever you are from a footprint standpoint successful the coming years?

Well, I conjecture I would similar to, due to the fact that I deliberation that cablegram assets are bully assets for each the reasons I conscionable said. And fundamentally, I deliberation if you negociate them successful a bully mode and a coherent mode and instrumentality vantage of each the earthy accidental that they present, that you tin make a batch of value. And I deliberation there's immoderate worth successful standard which tin construe into user worth arsenic well. And truthful there's nary cablegram plus retired successful the country, anywhere, that I wouldn't similar to ain if the concern was close to ain it.

Obviously there's a question of what you person to wage to get it. There's besides a question of astir of the cablegram assets successful this state that are not america are controlled by household businesses. And truthful the cadence of a household concern is antithetic than that of a nationalist institution and often unrelated to nonstop moments of clip with the marketplace and value. So determination is nary existent accidental close present to bash much. And truthful to the grade determination are immoderate assets available, they are rather small. They don't determination the needle overmuch from Charter's perspective.

Though, Suddenlink, that one's not that small.

Well, you know, comparative to Charter, it's not large.

Can you instrumentality maine backmost successful clip a small bit? Certainly astatine Charter, if not for your full career, 1 of the defining moments for you was the Time Warner Cable acquisition, which was paired with Bright House. It was an tremendous acquisition. Charter was a tiny company. What gave you the thought that Charter could propulsion this disconnected and past the assurance to really determination guardant with it? Because if you look astatine history, successful immoderate industry, the thought that a institution that was the size of Charter trying to bargain a institution the size of Time Warner Cable, I mean, I'm not definite I tin deliberation of thing that comes to caput that rivals that. Correct maine if I'm wrong.

No, I'm not alert of it. That was audacious successful immoderate ways. It seemed precise earthy to me, though, which I conjecture is good. I've been successful the concern a agelong time. I truly person a batch of assurance successful the concern and its capabilities and our capabilities to make worth implicit a agelong play of time. I had a batch of acquisition astatine Time Inc. I grew up astatine Time Warner. I spent 23 years there. I started arsenic a manager trainee and ended up arsenic president of the company. And past AOL bought it, and I was wholly disillusioned by their acquisition and their imaginativeness astir what cablegram could be.

Which just, conscionable to interrupt, which was what? What was their vision?

Well, I'm not definite what it was. I'm not definite they had one. From AOL's perspective, they did a large deal. And obviously, Time Warner took [stock successful the deal], which ended up not being worthy precise overmuch for their ain acceptable of assets. But I retrieve talking Steve Case and [Barry Schuler], who was the authoritative CEO astatine the time, down to look astatine video-on-demand successful Austin, Texas. And 1 of them turned to the different and said, you know, what bash we request a web for? We person dial up!

There were changes being made successful the institution past and determination were managerial issues, and I wasn't truly connected to them, but I didn't deliberation that their imaginativeness of wherever cablegram was going and excavation was going to work. And I left. I was offered a job, to enactment arsenic president. But I decided not to.

I ended up astatine Cablevision. And we had existent occurrence astatine Cablevision with the triple play. We mixed telephony, broadband and video unneurotic into a package, and it truly worked. At Cablevision, I tried to bash the Time Warner Cable deal, but determination were power issues there, and it was a household concern [then owned by the Dolan family]. But I believed that if we had much assets to manage, we could bash much and marque much and make much value. It was truly that elemental of a notion. It's truly a managerial attack that we were selling.

So I went to Charter due to the fact that the rollup that I wanted Cablevision to bash wasn't going to hap for their ain household needs and planning. The institution backed off. And truthful I thought, I'll spell to Charter. Charter is simply a diamond successful the rough. It had gone done bankruptcy. It was really rather a mess, which made it rather an opportunity. We instantly had occurrence astatine Charter and started increasing the institution rapidly. And we had a invaluable portion of equity successful presumption of our banal terms and our estimation arsenic a institution and our estimation arsenic a absorption system. The imaginativeness to get Time Warner was successful that. So archetypal we did a woody for Bresnan, a institution I really bought twice. I bought it archetypal astatine Cablevision and past they rebranded it to Optimum West, and past [in 2013] we bought it [from Cablevision]. And past [John Malone's] Liberty [Media] came in.

Did you find John Malone, oregon did John Malone find you?

Well, I conjecture helium recovered me. I mean, evidently I've known who helium is my full life. And astatine 1 constituent helium tried to prosecute maine to tally DirecTV, but I didn't truly cognize John well. I mean, I knew him reputationally. I admired him, but I didn't cognize him. But astatine Charter, helium wanted to cognize wherefore I did the Optimum West woody and what I was reasoning about. And we had a treatment astir that, and past they bought retired the backstage equity radical that took Charter retired of bankruptcy. Today, they person astir 26% of the institution done Liberty Broadband, which is simply a nationalist company.

I expressed my imaginativeness then, due to the fact that they were portion of the board, astir what we could bash with Time Warner. The committee thought we could bash it and it made sense. It was audacious. But, you know, look astatine the worth we could make if we did it. It was a hard process, obviously. And we had Comcast successful there.

You deed my adjacent question there. To punctual people, originally, you were moving with Comcast to divided up the assets and past Comcast, for deficiency of a amended word, benignant of stabbed you guys successful the backmost and ended up doing the deal, without informing you, connected their own. What went done your caput erstwhile you recovered retired that that happened?

Well, I was disappointed. I conjecture that would beryllium the the mildest mode to enactment it. But, past we were capable to get the full thing. So it each worked out.

I mentioned Altice USA earlier. Altice has taken a strategy wherever its absorption feels similar it needs to upgrade its existent web to fiber, astatine least, rather a ample percent of it. So they're going done that process now. It's expensive, but they person travel to the decision they request to upgrade to fiber. Charter and Comcast don't deliberation so. Can you explicate concisely wherefore that is and if you deliberation Altice is making a mistake?

We deliberation we're connected the close course, which is not to afloat upgrade fibre to the broadside of the house. We person precise deep, affluent fibre assets passim our network. But determination are a clump of different technologies that tin let a translation of the fibre awesome into an RF coaxial awesome and past yet into a WiFi oregon mobile awesome oregon cellular awesome from the network. The existent question is, what does capableness to service a lawsuit cost? And we deliberation that determination are little costly ways than doing an each fibre overbuild connected your ain web for a assortment of reasons.

One, astir of the outgo of a fibre web is not the existent archetypal construction. It's each the connections, which are overmuch much costly individually successful a fibre physique than they are successful an upgrade concern similar we have. When you deliberation astir underground construction, 35% of the state is underground serviced, and it's overmuch much costly to physique a full caller network. It's precise painstakingly slow. So erstwhile you look astatine the outgo of really getting 10 gigabit work retired of a web and into a instrumentality that tin really grip it, it's overmuch little costly to upgrade the benignant of networks we person successful this country, with the benignant of topography we person with our networks — aerial and underground, reasonably wide unfastened spaces, debased density operation — it makes a batch much consciousness to usage developments successful the DOCSIS level and successful the fibre level unneurotic than by going each fiber.

Two TV questions for you. First one: How overmuch longer does bequest wage TV have, and is it going to spell distant wholly astatine immoderate point?

I've ever thought it would conscionable dilatory attrite. It conscionable keeps getting much and much expensive. Programing costs are really declining due to the fact that customers are declining, which means that the full ecosystem is shrinking from a worth proposition. And there's a batch of assets that are held up by that system. Sports programing, athletes' pay, etc. The improvement of content. And astir contented is comparatively inexpensive to develop, comparatively speaking, to sports. People inactive privation the product. It's a highly invaluable service. It conscionable costs a lot.

So, I deliberation it volition proceed to dilatory attrite. There volition inactive beryllium unrecorded TV, and determination volition inactive beryllium on-demand premium services similar we have, and there'll beryllium advertisement supported products that work. But getting wide organisation gets much and much hard going forward. So whether we tin reaggregate immoderate of that successful the direct-to-consumer products, which person volition person debased penetrations, comparatively speaking, to the historical system, I'm not sure. But I deliberation there's an accidental there. There's besides a full request for hunt and find and however you find contented and pulling contented backmost together. So I tin I tin envision a reaggregation exemplary going forward, but I deliberation there's a batch much symptom to travel earlier that happens.

Would Charter enactment successful the reaggregation exemplary arsenic a pay-TV distributor?

Well, we bash person a associated task that we conscionable formed with Comcast, which is going to beryllium branded arsenic Xumo. And it's truly a level concern that allows america to enactment app-based tv retired and to deploy that widely. If we bash that well, we'll beryllium capable to make an advertizing level which volition defray immoderate of the costs of contented for consumers. I deliberation 1 of the astir important things we could bash and request to bash if we're going to beryllium palmy is make a palmy advertizing model. The lone mode you get that is beauteous wide deployment.

We're committed to deploying that business. There's imaginable important upside to it. And that's a wireless business, by the way. It's not going to beryllium connected by wire. But it's a level that allows america to make and enactment with app-based suppliers, including direct-to-consumer suppliers, and to assistance those direct-to consumer-suppliers bash amended due to the fact that we tin leverage our ain relationships with consumers to assistance merchantability services.

So if I understood your answer, I deliberation what you're saying is bequest pay-TV volition proceed to decline. There volition yet beryllium immoderate benignant of reaggregation into a integer model, but it volition beryllium painful. So I'm assuming what you're saying is astatine immoderate point, bequest TV, wage TV arsenic we cognize it, volition halt existing and it volition beryllium portion of this caller thing. Again, conscionable to effort to pin you down, is that 10 years away?

Let maine conscionable archer you a story. In 1980, erstwhile I was the wide manager of suburban Philadelphia's cablegram system, a broadcaster from KGW, transmission 3 successful Philadelphia, came retired and did an interrogation with me. We showed them each the exertion and the anchor idiosyncratic oregon the newsman said to me, "One day, I'm going to beryllium moving for you." And what helium meant was that cablegram was going to regenerate broadcasting. But if you look around, broadcasting inactive exists — 40 years afterwards. So I'm not saying it's going distant by immoderate means, but determination volition beryllium affluent bundled packages of linear video.

Now, I don't cognize however broadcasting fares. You know, close present we spend, per customer, implicit $240 a twelvemonth for retransmission rights for broadcast TV. And if you deliberation astir that, if you person an antenna, broadcast TV is free. So, implicit the air, each this contented is being blasted into the air, unencrypted. That's what broadcasting is. So I don't cognize however that lasts with radical paying for it astatine those benignant of rates. I deliberation it'll past a fig of years but it's intelligibly successful heavy trouble.

And truthful that astir apt leads to a melodramatic pivot oregon reforming of each of the companies that are successful the broadcast TV presumption business?

 Something's going to happen. Yeah. I don't cognize what, exactly.

I privation to inquire you, due to the fact that I don't deliberation you've talked astir this astatine all: There was a recent $7 cardinal verdict against Charter stemming from the execution of an 83-year-old pistillate by a Charter cablegram repair man. That verdict was knocked down to $1.15 cardinal by a judge. Do you person immoderate comments connected that?

No, different than we don't deliberation we person immoderate liability successful the case. We've been saying that we volition workout each the ineligible rights we person going forward, and we expect to prevail.

Last question: You've spent truthful overmuch of your beingness moving successful the cablegram industry, arsenic we've discussed. Is determination a caller merchandise oregon gross watercourse that down the roadworthy volition beryllium associated with cablegram companies arsenic a modular portion of a consumer's monthly cablegram bill? Every fewer years, cablegram rolls retired location information oregon telehealth, but thing extracurricular of the wireless MVNO concern has truly stuck recently.

I bash deliberation that successful the agelong word there'll beryllium overmuch richer information products, immersive information products —entertainment and enactment and play and things similar medicine — that our networks lend themselves to. We tin get our networks successful signifier to bash that precise rapidly [through upgrades]. I deliberation determination volition beryllium an immersive satellite not withstanding what's going connected with the metaverse and different attempts to make that world. But clearly, the capableness of of communications is going to proceed to expand. And you tin envision a satellite of 3 dimensional products, holographic displays and each of the implications of that provides to creating businesses. And I deliberation we'll beryllium portion of that.

If you look astatine each the wealth being spent contiguous successful the United States connected communications, mobile is wherever astir of it is. And truthful that's a existent accidental from a maturation position for the adjacent decade. But successful the expansive strategy of things, I deliberation our accomplishment acceptable arsenic a wide supplier of services is amended astatine the large products than it is astatine the niche products. It's hard to make niche businesses similar security, which are not broad. Devices similar Ring doorbells whitethorn go ubiquitous, but the accepted precocious interaction information concern is simply a niche business. And we person not done that good successful the niche businesses and aggregating a clump of niche businesses that usage connection services. That's not to accidental we won't find them and we won't enactment them together. But I deliberation the large opportunities for america are the large wide services and the ubiquitously deployed services, and that's wherever the the infrastructure we've built truly is valuable.

One much — you mentioned you wanted to bent astir the industry. Seventy is not that old. Are you definite this is existent retirement?

I'm not truly definite what I'm going to do. You know, I truly similar each this worldly and privation to physique and compete. But I've been CEO 10 years present and I deliberation it's bully to renew absorption and the mode you think. I don't privation to commencement mailing it in, truthful I deliberation it's close for maine to move. But I besides deliberation the manufacture has got tremendous accidental and I recognize a batch of however it each fits together. And so, yes, I'd similar to find a mode to enactment connected and make value, but I'm not definite however that's going to happen.

That sounds similar a 'no' to me.

Disclosure: Comcast is the proprietor of NBCUniversal, CNBC's genitor company.