Brian Roberts came to know Mr. Gates when a contingent of Comcast executives visited Microsoft on a fact-finding tour several years ago.

A Comcast executive quietly sat at the speakers' table next to Chong and Adelstein throughout the presentation.

Another Comcast executive told the New York Times that the company "occasionally" delays P2P traffic, "postponing" it in some cases.

But a Comcast executive noted that the company did not look at those holdings as part of its long-term strategy and assumed the more optimistic debt levels.

Although Comcast executives decline to be specific, the cost of starting a network is "north of $300 million," said Jeffrey Shell, president of Comcast's programming group.

After a Seattle non-profit that helps teenage girls make movies tweeted a criticism about Baker, a Comcast executive terminated their funding, a decision later reversed after media inquiries.

Another Comcast executive said this event would not become national news, describing it as "chatter", in spite of the extensive national coverage to date, said The Hill.

He and other Comcast executives acknowledge that, having invested $50 billion in their campaign to get bigger, they do feel entitled to certain prerogatives.

Mr. Cohen, the Comcast executive, declined to talk about the specifics of the Fresno vote.

This led to "memos ... flying from one jittery Comcast executive to another".