Over two days, he had listened to a talk on the impact of social media, schmoozed with other CEOs, and met with his friend Bill Gates and others for breakfast to discuss distributing vaccines to developing nations.
Now, he was talking on a mobile phone to Philadelphia as he zoomed through a tunnel in the snow-covered mountains - without a single interruption in cell service.
The world, in Roberts' view, is getting smaller, and international sales could be one of Comcast's fastest-growing segments over the next five to 10 years. It won't come in the traditional Comcast way, through the acquisition of hard-line cable-TV systems.
"That's not where we are at the moment," Roberts said.
More likely, it will happen through a reenergized NBCUniversal, whose international operations are based in London, which was on Roberts' itinerary last week.
The operations are headed by Jeff Shell, a former top Comcast programming executive in Philadelphia who has relocated there. Shell has traveled to 35 countries visiting NBCUniversal properties during the last year.
The global opportunities are many, but it won't be easy, Roberts said - an outlook seconded by Vijay Jayant, senior managing director with International Strategy & Investment Group Inc.
Licensing entertainment overseas can be a growth business, Jayant said, but "the key question is how much of NBCU's original content can be exported and dubbed to a foreign language at a minimal cost for a high-margin return."
One successful company in overseas licensing has been Discovery Communications Inc. with documentary-style programming, Jayant said, though he added that foreign audiences can find U.S. sitcoms entertaining.
