Comcast thinks bigger than any other enterprise in this region. Brian L. Roberts and his management team are considered tough negotiators and fierce competitors. You know a company has made its mark in the top ranks of corporate America when consumer advocates, regulators, lawmakers, and a host of competitors draw a big target on it.
In Philadelphia, Comcast is that company.
Steven Wray, president of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, said the region probably has not seen a similarly ambitious, innovative company since early in the last century. He mentioned Rohm & Haas and Sun Oil Co. as homegrown corporations that grew into giants after developing groundbreaking technology for products everyone used: paint, in the case of Rohm & Haas; fuels for what is now Sunoco.
"Is Comcast one of those companies that comes to define an image of a region?" he asked.
Given that the joint venture being established by Comcast and GE to own NBC Universal will not receive regulatory blessing for at least a year, the deal announced Dec. 3 does not mean anything tangible right now.
But it is the intangibles that have so tantalized the governor, the mayor, and everyone else who watches TV and goes to the movies.
Asked about the Comcast-NBCU deal the day it was announced, Gov. Rendell lauded the "prestige" it would bring to the city and the state.
"It's a little bit like Coca-Cola in Atlanta," Rendell told reporters at a news conference. "It's a signature company in the world, and for it to be based in Pennsylvania is terrific."
