Comcast CEO looking to expand global reach

In June, he traveled into Lausanne, Switzerland, with a scrum of NBC executives to bid - successfully - on the U.S. broadcast rights for the Olympics. Comcast/NBCUniversal won those rights through 2020 for more than $4 billion, beating sports giant ESPN, owned by Disney, and News Corp.'s Fox Sports.

Roberts said the atmosphere in Davos was informal and snowy. He attended an event to hear from a top London official about preparations for the 2012 Olympics, the first that NBC will broadcast under Comcast's ownership. He had a private dinner with a small group of executives.

He got a firsthand look at CNBC's operation, which broadcast the World Economic Forum from both inside and outside the Congress Center in Davos. The cable channel has covered the event for about a dozen years and had 40 staffers there, including on-air talent Maria Bartiromo. Its coverage was immediately distributed to 390 million homes around the globe.

As he was saying, a flat world.

Contact staff writer Bob Fernandez at 215-854-5897 or bob.fernandez@phillynews.com.