After Versant, Comcast to spin off NBCUniversal

#1

Key Points

  • New company will be mostly owned by the same shareholders as Comcast; it's just a split, but Comcast will keep nearly 20% stake in the new company for at least a year.
  • One of Comcast's co-CEOs will be in charge of the new company, while the other will stay behind.
  • Current timeline to complete is about a year out from now, barring all approvals from the board, shareholders, and regulatory agencies.
  • Assets of the new company will be:
    • NBC
    • Bravo
    • Telemundo
    • Peacock
    • Sky (European media business)
    • Universal film and television studios
    • Universal theme parks

My Take

What was the point of spinning off Versant if you were going to do this, anyway?! Now NBCUniversal might as well merge back with Versant and get us back to where we were, minus the Comcast part. Neither company is a good takeover target for anyone else, anyway. This has just been a waste of time that has caused nothing but problems for everyone, us included because of what it did with things like ADBTuner, Roku Bridge, and PrismCast.

#2

don't forget TVE

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stupid robot :robot: not very helpful

#3

Well, that predates the Versant split. Comcast implemented DRM well before then, but both companies continue the "tradition". I don't expect any changes there, no matter what happens. Technically, their TVE still exists, you just have to work around the DRM one way or another...

#4

It sucks for sports fans like me because I need the USA Network to watch EPL games and those games aren't simulcasted on Peacock so that requires a cable sub to at least Sling Blue.

I won't be surprised when ParaWarner gets split too. Its just mega companies absorbing the competition and dumping off the scraps to someone who cares really

#5

almost like monopolies like this were not supposed to exist. amazing how when you throw up barriers to content, fewer people watch the content.

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