Comcast in deal talks with NBC Universal

[ovidsen]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Cable giant Comcast Corp. is kicking the tires of NBC Universal, according to people familiar with the situation.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator with almost 25 million subscribers, has been looking to increase its content holdings for several years. In NBC Universal it would get its hands on not only a big broadcast network and movie studio, but also several powerful cable channels, including USA, Syfy, CNBC, MSNBC and Bravo.

NBC parent General Electric has often denied that it is interested in selling its entertainment holdings. Of course, if history is any guide, Comcast doesn't necessarily wait for an invitation before making a play. Five years ago it made an unsuccessful run to buy Walt Disney Co. for $54 billion.

The price tag for NBC Universal would be substantially less than that. A recent analyst report from J.P. Morgan analyst Stephen Tusa valued NBC Universal at $30 billion to $35 billion. However, such a deal would likely be very complex because there would be huge tax implications for NBC Universal parent General Electric, which first bought NBC in 1986 for $6.5 billion.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/09/comcast-wants-nbc-universal-.html

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I'm afraid this may be a situation where 1 + 1 = somewhere around 3/4.

Maybe Comcast will rescue NBC from the ditch that GE threw it in when GE bought RCA (NBC's parent company) in 1978. I was working at 30 Rock at the time, and we were shocked to learn back then that the GE bean-counters, trying to increase NBC's already substantial profits, had proposed eliminating NBC's news division, arguing that it wasted money. NBC affiliates quickly killed that idea.

Then again, Comcast is the 800 pound gorilla in the cable industry. I live in Atlanta now, and am a Comcast subscriber by necessity. I can't use a dish, and no other cable firm has wired my network. Their basic cable package is pathetic. You need to move a tier up to at least get MSNBC, the BBC and other worthwhile channels, and to do that you need a digital box, a separate monthly expense.

[ovidsen]

1. NYT: Comcast denies deal to buy NBC Universal

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/business/media/01nbc.html?_r=1&ref=business

Comcast, the cable system operator, denied a report on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to buy the television and film business NBC Universal from General Electric.

But executives briefed on the negotiations said Comcast was one of several companies in talks about potentially buying a stake in NBC Universal.

Who wants to dance?

[tomm2thumbs]

2. I'm surprised Fox doesn't buy it - imagine the havoc they could cause - or is this what is happening

by 'other means'

[DAMANgoldberg]

3. NewsCorp cannot buy NBC Universal...

or at least the NBC part. There is a federal law that bars the 4 broadcast networks (ABC/Disney, CBS, NBC, and Fox) from buying any of the other. Conceivably, they could buy the Universal part (USA, SyFy, Oxygen) or the cable division (CNBC, MSNBC, shopNBC, or Telemundo), or the Universal film studio co-owned with Vivendi but would have to divest the broadcast network. NewsCorp would love it's hands on MSNBC to flip (radio term) to another format and CNBC to consolidate the business space.

[depakid]

4. Verticle integration in the media would be an especially bad development for Americans

Comcast is already a bad corporate citizen that ought to be subject to more stringent regulation- this would only make them even more brazen with their abuses.

[Born Free]

5. Republicans will get the 2nd channel they want...

My cynical views of Comcast make me believe any purchase by that organization would only create a more "FOX"
like MSNBC. I remember not too long ago one of the elected republicans was shown on TV saying the Republicans
needed another channel because having only FOX was no longer enough to get their message out.

[HughBeaumont]

7. Yeah, as opposed to Democrats, who have a whopping ZERO channels of our own.

What's hilarious is that "message" Republicans are talking about is one that pseudo-intellectually attempts to defend failure. And they want more channels to spread the lunacy?

The media should be FAIR, not partisan.

[dogknob]

6. Bye Rachel! Bye Keith! It's been fun!

Comcast is already systematically removing MSNBC from its basic service. I have been posting about this for weeks now. Rachel and Keith are obviously under a gag order.

DU will soon be "available" as part of an upgrade to "premium" service from Comcast. The idea is to shut down the lefty media that helped get Obama elected.