The Spirit of Philadelphia
For Comcast, home's the best place to operate
By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 9/28/2003 8:00:00 PM
Philadelphia is remarkable for the many firsts that can be credited to the City of Brotherly Love. The first school was founded on pre-Revolutionary American soil there in 1689. The first library started lending books in 1731. The country's first novel was published there, according to the U.S. Department of Interior, in 1744.
New, enlightening media is still being introduced there, now through fiber optics and coaxial cable.
Comcast Corp. — headquartered at the corner of Market and 15th streets, across from City Hall — serves about two-thirds of the city, as well as suburban franchises in its Eastern Division. (Urban CableWorks, a partnership with Time Warner Cable, serves the remainder of the city. Regional executives would not discuss whether there is any discussion about acquiring the city's other incumbent operator.)
Comcast Cable Communications, the company's MSO unit, now offers residents innovations including specialized local news programming, via CN8: The Comcast Network; Phillies, 76ers and Flyers games on Comcast Sports Net; as well as digital programming, HDTV and video-on-demand — right in the urban center of the corporation's hometown.
But executives stress that the product mix is not influenced by the nearby presence of company officers.
"Every one of my systems is upgraded to 750 megahertz," said Michael Doyle, president of Comcast's 5.2 million-subscriber Eastern Division, which stretches from New Hampshire to Wilmington, Del. "If it looks good in Millburn, N.J., it will look good in Philadelphia. They all have the same technology, quality and quantity of service."
Product improvements have more to do with the region's level of system consolidation than on where Comcast is based, he added. The MSO spent $300 million to upgrade the Philadelphia DMA, including improvements to the former Lenfest Communications Inc. systems it acquired in 2000, in order to equalize technology throughout the area.
The improvement includes upgrades to plant in the city's heart — an area often left to the tail end of upgrades, if included at all.
"We completed the city two years ahead of schedule," added Ed Pardini, regional vice president for Pennsylvania and Delaware, "and the improvements are not just where [top corporate executives] can see it."
Focusing on the core makes sense, Pardini said.
"Philadelphia's always been a terrific demographic. [Consumers] over-index for entertainment services. They buy more and we've always enjoyed a positive reception from them," he said.
So what's it like working under the watchful eyes of the bosses at 1500 Market St.?
"Some people might find it very daunting to have individuals like [Comcast Corp. chairman] Ralph [Roberts], [Comcast Corp. president and CEO] Brian [Roberts] and [Comcast Cable president] Steve [Burke] looking over your shoulder, but it only makes us much better. We are the beneficiaries of good advice on things that other markets have done," Pardini said.
Doyle learned 20 years ago that he would hear from those bosses, but that it was not to be as intimidating as in the rest of corporate America.
"Brian was my first boss I had, when I ran Willow Grove [Pa.], a 30,000-subscriber system," he said. "He asked me out to dinner. I put on my best suit and he took me to Howard Johnson's."
Pizza at Mama's
The patriarch was similarly down-to-earth. Doyle again put on his best business suit and shoes for a business meal, and he and the senior Roberts ended up getting a pizza to go from Mama's Pizzeria on the Main Line and eating it in a cemetery across the street.
The Robertses have done all they can to foster entrepreneurial spirit and make managers feel involved the in company's success, Doyle said.
The executives, in turn, have attempted to share some of that success with the community, in the form of public-affairs campaigns such as "Philly Cares" and investments in local school programs. The former campaign has grown into the national Comcast Cares Day, when business units across the country pick a project, such as beautifying a school, and spend a whole day painting, mowing and other repair tasks.
"Comcast's been a great corporate citizen to the school district," said Betty Elizabeth McCormick, the Philadelphia school district's director of instructional media. The 260 schools in Comcast's city territory have been furnished with free cable drops, per its franchise agreement. But Comcast also hosted a workshop for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers to promote Cable in the Classroom. (Urban CableWorks has also connected the schools in its franchise).
Other Comcast-supported initiatives brought the C-SPAN school bus to local campuses, as well as contributions via VH1's "Save the Music" charity, added district spokesman Vincent Thompson. Company officials also quietly provide donations and support for schools which have touched their own families.
Pardini said more than $500,000 has been contributed to Philadelphia music programs through Save the Music. This year, employee-donated used instruments will be matched with new-instrument purchases, he said.
Comcast also uses the local-news segment in CNN Headline News each hour as part of the cable division's community affairs work. Producers shoot professional-looking five-minute segments on upcoming charity events, for instance, and insert them in the network, Doyle said. The segments are titled Comcast Newsmakers.
A definite benefit for regional executives, they said, is the ability to utilize other Comcast business units in their hometown to promote regional charity initiatives. For instance, the cable division has obtained a luxury box from Comcast-Spectacor's Wachovia Center sports complex each year to auction for a breast-cancer awareness charity that it supports.
Eyes on them
The regional executives take on these tasks, knowing the company's founders could be watching at any moment.
"We operate with the attitude that you're never as good as when they're patting you on the back and never as bad as when they are kicking you in the rear," Pardini joked.
Said Doyle: "It's important in my job to check my ego at the door. Headquarters is an enormous presence.
"The way I look at it, I'm Charlie Watts, playing drums for the [Rolling] Stones. I'm not going to be Mick Jagger, but I'm in the best band in the country."
| Philly At a Glance |
|---|
| Some stats about Comcast's Philadelphia region: |
| SOURCE: Comcast |
| • 2 million video customers |
| • 34,000 miles of plant, upgraded to 750 mHz |
| • 30% digital penetration |
| • 1 in 4 digital homes have high-speed data |
| • HDTV has been launched |
| • VOD has been available for 6 months, with 70% of digital customers trying it and 90% using it more than once |
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