Despite its failed bid to acquire much of Fox’s TV and film businesses, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts presented his company as one ready to strike on future buyout candidates while speaking Wednesday morning at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia conference.
“We’re going to compete for video, but we want to compete for profitable video,” Roberts said. “Right now, we’re in a strategically great place,” he added, before saying the telecom giant still wants to “play offense” if the right deal presents itself, which comes after Disney ultimately beat Comcast for Fox’s slew of assets earlier this summer.
Roberts shrugged off Comcast losing 140,000 video customers during the second quarter when asked, pointing to the increasingly competitive market for streaming customers. And Comcast is still benefiting from that competition, Roberts said, thanks to deals bringing Netflix and Amazon content to its Xfinity X1 service.
“We don’t care whose content you watch, just watch it through our X1 experience,” Roberts said.
And despite Comcast owning a 30 percent stake in Hulu, Roberts didn’t rule out Comcast’s own direct-to-consumer streaming option. Comcast continues to “study these things all the time,” Roberts said, but that he had “no news” to share on Wednesday.
17 Times 'The Simpsons' Predicted the Future (Photos)
"The Simpsons" has an eerie knack for predicting the future, from Donald Trump's presidency to U.S. beating Sweden for an Olympic gold medal in curling. Here are 14 times the long-running comedy series got it right.
Lady Gaga
On the episode "Lisa Goes Gaga," Lady Gaga is shown suspended by cables flying over the audience at a concert. Well surprise, surprise because at the Super Bowl LI's halftime show, Gaga descended from the stadium's roof with suspension cables wearing pretty much the same outfit on her episode.
Fox
2016 Nobel Prize Winner
In a 2010 episode, Milhouse predicted that Bengt R. Holmstrom would win the Nobel Prize in Economics and, sure enough, in 2016 Holmstrom and Oliver Hart were announced as joint winners of the prize.
Fox
Siegfried and Roy Tiger Attack
In 1993, an episode titled "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," magicians in a Siegfried and Roy-like show got attacked by their trustworthy tiger.
In 2003, Roy was attacked by one of their white tigers during a live performance. He sustained injuries, but lived.
Fox
Arnold Palmer
On the 28th season premiere, the satirical series made an Arnold Palmer joke... on the day that golfer Arnold Palmer died.
Homer Simpson tells his wife Marge that he plans to “Arnold Palmer” his pal Lenny.
“Arnold Palmer Lenny?” Marge responds. “You’re going to Arnold Palmer Lenny?”
He was of course referring to the lemonade and iced tea drink mixture -- which was named after the golfer.
Fox
Faulty Voting Machine
During the 2012 elections, a voting machine proved faulty when votes cast for Barack Obama went to Mitt Romney instead.
In a 2008 episode, Homer Simpson went to the voting booths to cast a vote for Obama, but... his vote went to McCain instead.
Fox
Higgs Boson
In a 1998 episode, "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace," Homer writes out an equation on a chalkboard which, if solved, “you get the mass of a Higgs boson that’s only a bit larger than the nano-mass of a Higgs boson actually is," says Simon Singh, science author.
Fox
Horse Meat Scandal
In 1994, an episode titled "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song," the lunch lady was seen reaching into a barrel labeled "assorted horse parts" and putting the meat into the school's lunch pot.
In 2013, it was reported that traces of horse DNA was found in beef products across the UK.
Fox
Guitar Hero
The now basically extinct but once popular video game Guitar Hero was first released in 2005.
But in a 2002 "The Simpsons" episode, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards give Homer a jacket that has "guitar hero" printed on the back of it.
Fox
Farmville
The virtual reality game, Farmville, was all the craze in 2009 with people rushing home from work or school to tend to their farm.
In a 1998 episode, "The Simpsons" shows a scene were kids are excited to play in a yard work simulator.
Fox
Old Beatles Letters
In Season 2's episode 18, "Brush With Greatness," Ringo Starr from the Beatles is shown responding to fan letters while saying: "They took the time to write me, and I don’t care if it takes me another 20 years. I’m going to answer every one of them."
Well, two women in England received a reply to their fan mail form Sir Paul McCartney 50 years later.
Fox
Smart Watches
Sorry Apple, but "The Simpsons" had smart watches first.
In a 1995 episode in which the show is set in the future, Lisa's husband is shown speaking to a phone on his wrist.
The first smartwatch wasn't created until 2013.
Fox
Disney Owns Fox
Back in 1998, a quick scene in "The Simpsons" showed 20th Century Fox as "a Division of Walt Disney Co." And in March 2019, Disney completed its $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and TV assets.
Fox
U.S. Wins an Olympic Gold Medal in Curling
In 2010, Homer and Marge beat Sweden and took home an Olympic gold medal for Team U.S.A. in Mixed Match Curling. As the animated sportscaster said, "Open your history books, tear out the pages and put this indelible Olympic moment in."
Fox
Murder Hornets and Coronavirus
In a 1993 episode, a Japanese factory worker accidentally spreads the contagious "Osaka Flu" to Springfield, and in the town peoples' rush to find a cure, they accidentally knock over a van with killer bees inside. The spread of "murder hornets" in America has coincided with the coronavirus in 2020. The coincidence was first noticed by former "Simpsons" writer Bill Oakley.
Fox
Donald Trump Presidency
17 years ago in an episode titled "Bart to the Future" shows Lisa as president after Donald Trump apparently ruined the economy.
Fox
Ted Cruz's Cancun Trip
In the 1993 episode "Marge in Chains," Springfield Mayor Joe Quimby gives a press conference announcing there's a pandemic happening -- and letting residents know he didn't escape to the Bahamas during the disaster. It's later revealed that Quimby is just wearing a suit from the waist up and is actually broadcasting from a beach in swim shorts. Fans were quick to point out it's an almost identical situation to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's recent escape attempt to Cancun.
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From Donald Trump’s presidency to Disney buying Fox to the spread of ”murder hornets“
"The Simpsons" has an eerie knack for predicting the future, from Donald Trump's presidency to U.S. beating Sweden for an Olympic gold medal in curling. Here are 14 times the long-running comedy series got it right.
Fox
