The parent comment likely meant private as in non-government (I doubt they were unaware Comcast is publicly traded). Being traded on a stock index has nothing to do with that, you&#x27;re still wholly owned by private shareholders.<p>Property rights don&#x27;t vaporize just because you do an IPO. By current law Comcast is <i>not</i> in fact a utility - they offer a utility product that is regulated by the FCC, there&#x27;s a critical difference between those two concepts.