In case you somehow missed it, the No. 1 cable provider in the U.S., Comcast, is in the middle of trying to acquire the No. 2 cable provider, Time Warner Cable. With the acquisition currently under review, customers, regulators and content providers have plenty of questions about what the deal will mean for them.
Next month Comcast Cable president and CEO Neil Smit, who manages the company’s broadband and TV operations, will take the Disrupt NY stage to answer those questions and more.
Smit joined Comcast in 2012 after serving as CEO of Charter Cable for the four years prior. A former Navy Seal, he also served as the President of Time Warner’s America Online Access Business in the 2000s.
Comcast already made its pitch for regulators to approve the Time Warner Cable deal yesterday, in a lengthy blog post and FCC filing detailing the reasons why the acquisition will be pro-consumer and why it won’t be anti-competitive. Next month on Time Warner Cable’s home turf, Smit will be able to provide further clarification about why Comcast thinks the deal should go through.
That’s not all we’ll be talking about, though. We’ll also discuss Comcast’s somewhat controversial “direct connection” deal with Netflix, and what the chances are that the company strikes a streaming TV deal with Apple. We might even ask him why everyone seems to hate Comcast and what the company can do about that.
And Smit will be well-positioned to answer those questions. He will be the one to lead the combined Comcast-Time Warner Cable TV and broadband operations if the deal is approved. He’s also been working over the past few years to improve Comcast’s customer service while also pushing forward new on-demand and streaming services.
Our interview is sure to be one of the highlights of the conference, which takes place May 5-7 in New York City. Join us.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our sponsorship team at sponsors@beta.techcrunch.com. You can buy Disrupt NY tickets here.