Comcast still ❤️s Philly | Morning Newsletter

Welcome to another gloriously sunny day, with the high in the mid-60s.

Comcast’s global media empire has NBC, movie studios and theme parks. But Philadelphia is still key to the corporate giant, as evidenced by a recent showcase highlighting locally made tech. (SNL star Kenan Thompson, the event’s host, even uttered the word “jawn.”)

Plus, two investigative reporters have spent the past year examining the potential effects of PFAS, known as “forever chemicals.” They rounded up what they learned in a harrowing report.

— Julie Zeglen (@juliezeglen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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Whether you know it as your internet provider, a culture-setting employer, an Oscar-winning media company, the owner of Philly’s tallest buildings — you know the name Comcast.

The Center City-headquartered corporation hosted a showcase last month where executives pitched the company’s legacy and future of cable and internet innovation. Philadelphia was the real star, though, reporter Lizzy McLellan Ravitch writes.

Comcast became the media giant it is today through acquisitions — NBCUniversal, AT&T Broadband — but its locally made technology is what powers the company’s growth, from TV hardware to “high-fidelity” video. At this point, the tech and entertainment arms of the business are inextricably tied.

“If there’s only one statistic you should remember from today, let it be this: 70% of all internet consumption is entertainment,” the company’s global chief product officer told an audience of about 300 during the February showcase. The tech developed in Philadelphia, he said, is “rooted in a very, very simple principle: Never get between customers and the content they love.”

Here’s why Philly still matters to Comcast, despite its increasingly global influence.

What is the cost of forever?

For the past year, Inquirer reporters David Gambacorta and Barbara Laker have investigated the possible connection between cancer cases — including several former Phillies who played on the Vet’s AstroTurf field — and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, aka PFAS, which the EPA has linked to cancer and other diseases.

PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because the toxins linger in materials and people, well, forever. And some researchers say they can be deadly.

It’s not just baseball players who are at a higher risk for exposure. Firefighters’ uniforms and modern turf fields, including those used by young athletes, also contain PFAS.

Read the full summary of their investigation.

This celebrity and Philly-area native visited Abbott Elementary on Oscar Sunday.

A) Tina Fey

B) Da’Vine Joy Randolph

C) Will Smith

D) Bradley Cooper

Think you know? Check your answer.

🏡 Ogling: This restored 1905 Dutch Colonial in East Oak Lane.

🇮🇪 Smashing: Shillelaghs, aka thin, knotted pieces of wood used in this form of Irish martial arts.

🖼️ Booking: Tickets to see the work of Philly textile artist Qualeasha Wood, who is sharing space with Jean-Michel Basquiat in an ongoing Brooklyn Museum show.

It’s free agency, so you get another football anagram: This Penn State grad and running back just signed to the Philadelphia Eagles on a three-year deal.

BALONEY QUARKS

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Helen Duncan, who solved Sunday’s anagram: Fletcher Cox, the defensive tackle who just announced his retirement from the Eagles after 12 seasons.

Have a great Tuesday! See you again tomorrow morning.

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