Comcast shareholders meeting a largely quiet affair

Comcast Corp. held an uneventful shareholders meeting Wednesday, during which chief executive Brian Roberts reiterated his sentiment that he was "extremely excited" about a proposed merger with Time Warner Cable Inc., and unionized Comcast technicians pressured the company to improve its treatment of them.

The Chicago union, one of the few recognized by Comcast, is negotiating a new contract. Roberts said the meeting was not the venue for bargaining.

After the meeting at the Kimmel Center, about 50 antimerger protesters on the sidewalk chanted "Comcast has the tower and the people have the power," calling it a peoples' vote on the merger.

Consumers Union, Free Press, and Common Cause organized the protest and presented the names of several hundred thousand individuals who they said oppose the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal.

The two companies are the largest and second-largest cable-TV companies.

Inside the meeting, Roberts noted that NBC would be the top-rated TV network for the 2013-14 prime-time season in the advertiser-coveted 18- to 49-year-old demographic. This year's TV season ended Wednesday night.

"We have a lead that will not be overtaken," an NBC spokesman said Wednesday.

NBC attributes its ratings success to solid ratings from Sunday Night Football, the Sochi Olympics, The Voice, and Blacklist.