Comcast is the 'most perfectly positioned' company in media now, said IAC's Barry Diller
If you want to hedge your bets on media, Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is your best choice according to IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) and Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) chairman and senior executive Barry Diller. "Of all those companies, Comcast is the most perfectly positioned because they are really on the distribution side in a significant way, and they're on the production side also in a significant way," Diller told CNBC's "Power Lunch" at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle Summit on Monday. "Whichever one you bet on for having the ability to grow in the period when big technology companies take over almost anything, that's a pretty good bet." The era of a handful of traditional media companies dominating the landscape is over as more technology giants get in the game, Diller said. Existing media companies can still survive, but they'll never have the monopoly over entertainment and advertising while Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) have such large user bases. Cord-cutting is less of a risk for companies like Comcast, Diller explained. If people stop buying its cable bundle, it still owns the data pipeline. Diller also applauded Disney's (NYSE: DIS) current strategy of investing in ways to bring its content direct to consumers through streaming services and moving its content off other services like Netflix. (NASDAQ: NFLX) It will need a lot of original content to pull it off so reports Disney was interested in buying most of 21st Century Fox make sense, Diller said. However he added he has no idea if the deal will take place. Note: Comcast owns CNBC parent company NBCUniversal. If you want to hedge your bets on media, Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is your best choice according to IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) and Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) chairman and senior executive Barry Diller. "Of all those companies, Comcast is the most perfectly positioned because they are really on the distribution side in a significant way, and they're on the production side also in a significant way," Diller told CNBC's "Power Lunch" at the Internet Association's Virtuous Circle Summit on Monday. "Whichever one you bet on for having the ability to grow in the period when big technology companies take over almost anything, that's a pretty good bet." The era of a handful of traditional media companies dominating the landscape is over as more technology giants get in the game, Diller said. Existing media companies can still survive, but they'll never have the monopoly over entertainment and advertising while Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) have such large user bases. Cord-cutting is less of a risk for companies like Comcast, Diller explained. If people stop buying its cable bundle, it still owns the data pipeline. Diller also applauded Disney's (NYSE: DIS) current strategy of investing in ways to bring its content direct to consumers through streaming services and moving its content off other services like Netflix. (NASDAQ: NFLX) It will need a lot of original content to pull it off so reports Disney was interested in buying most of 21st Century Fox make sense, Diller said. However he added he has no idea if the deal will take place. Note: Comcast owns CNBC parent company NBCUniversal.
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