In a matter of weeks, it was clear that Mr. Malone, who had served as Mr. Roberts’s mentor earlier in his career, had been bested by his former protégé.

Even critics of the proposed deal — and there are many — cannot help being impressed by the quiet audacity of Mr. Roberts and the company he leads. It is a giant on cat’s paws, remaking the media landscape with little fanfare.

Spoilsports, like me, might point out that a company still digesting NBCUniversal should not subsequently gain control over so much additional distribution. With this deal, Comcast would not only lock up 30 percent of the cable market (and an ever greater share of broadband), but pricing leverage in all directions — with customers, with traditional programming providers like networks and cable networks, and with over-the-web providers like Netflix.

For consumers, cable is not just television anymore, it is where the Internet comes from. And should this deal go through, more people who want to cut the cable cord will still have to buy their broadband from a cable company where prices go only one way — up.

It is akin to leaving a house that is on fire and having it chase you down the street.

If you are Apple or Netflix, it’s good to hear that Comcast will abide by the principle of net neutrality — all content treated equally — in its expanded universe, but there have been growing problems with streaming speeds because of less than optimal arrangements with so-called peering companies, intermediaries that are paid to deliver streaming traffic. Might Comcast, with its bigger presence, start to squeeze web-enabled programmers like Netflix by charging more for those peering arrangements that make sure programming is not a stuttering mess? In terms of streaming speeds, Comcast has been a laggard, delivering slower speeds than Time Warner Cable and limiting how much data consumers are able to stream.