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- Help us 'dopey, lowlife slimeball' Brian Roberts, you're our only hope; also, NFL ratings surge anew, and Verizon's fading Fios TV somehow satisfies linear video subscribers
Help us 'dopey, lowlife slimeball' Brian Roberts, you're our only hope; also, NFL ratings surge anew, and Verizon's fading Fios TV somehow satisfies linear video subscribers
And in our weekly look at all things technology, media and telecom, we throw cold water on the rumor of a Netflix takeover of Warner Bros.
Daniel Frankel & David Bloom
September 22, 2025
In partnership with
Catch Daniel and David’s latest Next TMT Talks video podcast here. In color!
Born and raised in Philadelphia, do you really think Brian Roberts’ cool, knowing smile can be broken with Donald Trump’s funny names?
Trump set to close in on Comcast, as the FCC sends chilling signals to streamers — you’re next
After the stunningly swift capitulations of both Paramount Global and the Walt Disney Company, Donald Trump is just one major broadcast network away from his publicly stated goal of removing the utterances of “bad things” about him from the nation’s airwaves.
The president’s next target: A man he already has called plenty of bad things himself — “dopey,” “lowlife” and “slime ball” among them — Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, which owns the proud National Broadcast Network, closing in on its 100th birthday next year.
Next questions: Is Roberts, a nepotistic denizen of the lobbyist- and crony-rich cable industry, the one who will finally stand in the way of Trump’s media tyranny? And if and when Trump puts NBC to heel, will his cudgel, the FCC and attack-dog chairman Brendan Carr stop at just the major broadcast networks?
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