Comcast won't sell stake in Sixers, Flyers

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 L. Roberts said in response to a question at the cable company's annual shareholder meeting yesterday morning.

He noted that the company has about $31 billion in debt, which it can pay off over 15 years.

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

But any action on technology and the Internet likely would have to wait until after the federal government solved the housing crisis and more pressing economic issues, Roberts said.

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

Comcast's 100,000 employees are mostly nonunion, and the company has a reputation for being antiunion. Executive vice president David Cohen 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 April 30.

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

Cooley told Roberts he estimated the chief executive's compensation in 2008 was 527 times the pay of a typical rank-and-file Comcast employee. Roberts was paid $23.7 million in salary and benefits 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 labor contracts, Roberts said.

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

Company shares closed at $14.96 yesterday, down 24 cents, in Nasdaq trading.