The Dassault Falcon 900 was speeding across the Atlantic last June on its way to New York from Lausanne, Switzerland, chasing the waning sun. Aboard the corporate jet were just two passengers: Steve Burke, CEO of Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit, and sportscaster Bob Costas. Only a few hours earlier Burke, Costas, and a dozen colleagues had presented a $4.4 billion pitch to the International Olympic Committee to be the exclusive U.S. rights holder of the Olympics — bidding against Disney’s ESPN and News Corp.’s Fox Sports. It was Comcast’s biggest and boldest programming move since acquiring control of the struggling entertainment company in January 2011, and as Burke and Costas cruised home, everything was, well, up in the air.
