Comcast to shareholders: We won't sell Sixers, Flyers

Cable giant Comcast Corp. has no plans to sell its majority ownership stakes in the Sixers and Flyers because of the weak economy, chief executive officer Brian Roberts said in response to a question at the Comcast annual shareholder meeting this morning.

Roberts noted that the company's debt is about $31 billion and that the company could pay back that debt over 15 years.

Comcast welcomed new leadership at the Federal Communications Commission, Roberts said, and believed that the cable company would have a dialogue with government officials about product bundling and the evolution of technology.

But action on technology and the Internet likely would come after the federal government solved the housing crisis and more pressing economic issues, Roberts said.

At the shareholder meeting, which was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Roberts faced a grilling over his compensation and the company's behavior toward unions - a staple of the shareholders' meetings.

Comcast's 100,000 employees are mostly non-union and the company has a reputation for being anti-union. David Cohen, executive vice president, said Comcast had reached 31 union contracts with various local bargaining units since 2005.

Unionized workers from the Chicago area asked Roberts about the status of their contract, which expired on April 30.

Roy Cooley, a Comcast technician from Carol Stream, Ill., said that it took years to reach a prior contract and that Comcast workers feared another long slog through negotiations.

Cooley, who spoke in the meeting, told Roberts that he estimated the chief executive's compensation in 2008 was 527 times the compensation of rank-and-file Comcast employees. Roberts earned $23.7 million in total compensation in 2008, according to the company's regulatory filing.

Union members from the Pittsburgh and Chicago areas also claimed that the company had different compensation standards for union and nonunion employees doing comparable work. They said nonunion Comcast employees earned more per hour and received bonuses.

Comcast paid union employees based on the provisions in the labor contract, Roberts said.

Shareholders defeated proposals that would have established an advisory board on executive compensation and would have forced Comcast to disclose the names and titles of Comcast employes who earn more than $499,000 a year.

Company shares were priced at midafternoon at $15.18, down 2 cents, in Nasdaq trading.