Comcast Roundup: NBC Universal deal announced earlier this morning and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• THE LEDE: As we reported this morning, Comcast announced it has purchased a 51 percent majority stake in NBC Universal from its current parent General Electric for $30 billion. Federal regulatory approval, which could take up to a year, remains, multiple reports say.
• The New York Times reported over the weekend that General Electric bought out French company Vivendi’s 20 percent stake in NBC for $5.8 billion, clearing the way for its deal with Comcast and fueling expectations for the move to become final.
• The Inquirer’s Mike Armstrong gives “props” — yes, props — to Comcast for aiming high. Most Philadelphia-based companies take big buy outs, Armstrong writes, but Comcast has been the only in a generation or more that has sought to and succeeded in dominating its industry. Think notorious Philly.com commenters responded?
• The New York Times digs deeper into how Comcast’s NBC acquisition will almost surely precipitate a move to bolster its sports programming to challenge ESPN. The USA Today reports that Comcast ought not try to compete with ESPN but instead find a new niche to blossom a newly branded sports channel.

After the jump, more fallout and a dozen other Comcast news pieces you need to know about.

Read more

Comcast purchases majority stake in NBC Universal, awaiting regulatory approval

One of the world’s largest corporations this morning officially announced its intentions to sell one of the most storied media brands to the country’s biggest cable-TV and broadband-Internet company.

General Electric’s $30 billion sale of a 51 percent majority stake in NBC Universal to Center City-based Comcast comes after months of highly-publicized talks. The NBC acquisition will make Comcast the largest media company in the country, with $51 billion in annual revenue and more than $100 billion in assets, as the Inquirer reports, topping Walt Disney Co.

“This deal is a perfect fit for Comcast and will allow us to become a leader in the development and distribution of multiplatform “anytime, anywhere” media that American consumers are demanding,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement this morning.

Today’s announcement, which was widely expected, doesn’t mean the deal is done.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: Competing with ESPN, greatest Comcast photo ever and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• Yo, Happy Thanksgiving. Comcast is celebrating, first by bringing the Yule log to OnDemand in HD, and in more ways below.

• Forbes reports that this Thanksgiving, employees of Comcast, General Electric, NBC and Vivendi should all pray that the deal to give Comcast a majority stake in NBC goes through. If the deal fails, Forbes suggests, all those involved will be hurt.
• New York Times Media Decoder blog reports that Upper Darby princess and now NBC star Tina Fey hosted an Ad Council event and liberally joked about the possible Comcast-NBC merger. “It leaves me wondering,” she reportedly said, “will I have to change the name of my show from ‘30 Rock’ to ‘Industrial Park Along the Schuylkill River’?”

After the jump, Chicago Tribune video on becoming a Comcast customer service agent and the photo we hope will someday be on the currency of the global nation state that Comcast creates after it outlasts Google and Facebook in a universal war of empires. We assume this will happen in 2012.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: NBC deal facing long review, Comcast dabbles in Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• Reuters reports that Comcast’s deal to take from General Electric a majority stake in NBC Universal seems increasingly likely but that its acceptance will then be slowed by a lengthy review process, not only by the FCC but by congressional committees beginning the long haul to midterm elections.
• In an excellent piece of business journalism, the New York Times runs a top notch profile of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and his path through content courting. Read this, my friends.
• Not to be outdone, the LA Times has its own piece of long-form Comcast business journalism, chronicling how the NBC Universal purchase would make it an elite “major global communications player.”
• Bloomberg News reports that Comcast is working with Ticketmaster and Live Nation on salvaging their mega merger that is now under U.S. antitrust scrutiny. Does that merger still sound crazy to you? Read this excellent Philadelphia Weekly cover story on it from the alt weekly’s music editor Brian McManus.

After the jump Verizon FiOS swiping Comcast customers in Chestnut Hill and video of a Comcast executive talking about TV Everywhere.

Read more

[UPDATED] Comcast Roundup: NBC deal awaits Vivendi approval, Cohen called most powerful Philadelphian and More

Updated: 11/12/09 @ 11:19 p.m.: Vivendi no comment on NBC deal

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Comcast and General Electric have agreed to value NBC Universal in the neighborhood of $30 billion, one of the final details of their impending deal. As the Inquirer’s Bob Fernandez reports, whether or not French cable company Vivendi—with a 20 percent stake in NBC—will exercise its ability to veto the deal, may be announced today during its third-quarter earnings call. The Inquirer reports that Vivendi executives gave no comment during the call.

But Bloomberg reports that Vivendi has little reason to move on the deal and may hold out to get a better deal.

The LA Times entertainment blog reports that “no major regulatory hurdles” need to be jumped for the Comcast-GE deal to happen.

After the jump, the most powerful man in Philadelphia, rivaling ESPN and more.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: NBC deal could be announced next week, Bob Brady fights net neutrality and More

Every Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. EST, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

• The New York Times reports that Comcast could announce a deal to purchase NBC sometime next week. Still, Reuters had reported that Comcast and General Electric were “struggling” to finalize that deal, though it remained “likely.”
• Broadcasting Cable reports that Comcast might be planning to sell off the NBC Network upon purchasing NBC Universal, keeping other components, notably Universal Studios.
• paidContent reports that talks with Vivendi, the French company with some ownership of NBC, are ongoing. But paidContent also reports that former NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright expects Vivendi to negotiate the deal. That blog additionally reports that Comcast executives said repeatedly during their third-quarter earnings call that they would be “disciplined” with any acquisition.

After the jump, Congressman Bob Brady backs a Comcast cause, the company’s third-quarter earnings call and a dozen other Comcast stories worth noting.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: Brian Roberts at Web 2.0 Summit, latest on NBC deal and More

The Phillies are returning to the World Series, and, amid all the wild celebration, Thursday morning’s Comcast Roundup still must be done. Get an e-mail subscription for our Comcast news updates.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts made a big splash with his presence at San Francisco’s Web 2.0 Summit this week.

• CNET reports that his opening talk at the summit focused on casting Comcast in the same entrepreneurial spirit for which the Bay Area is known.
• Tech Crunch reports that Roberts said the company’s use of Twitter and other social media has changed their entire culture.
• Silicon Alley Insider reports that Roberts characterized net neutrality as “a solution seeking a problem.”

After the jump, continued coverage of a possible purchase of NBC, On Demand Online by year’s end more than a dozen other Comcast stories of note.

Read more

Comcast Roundup: Sea of rumors of NBC Universal purchase and More

Every Thursday morning, find all the stories you need to know about your friendly telecommunications giant in the Comcast Roundup. Get an e-mail subscription to our Comcast news updates.

Every few weeks, a single story dominates Comcast news. But few compare to the media hovering over the rumors that Comcast was in talks with General Electric about the wild mega-purchase of NBC Universal — something to the tune of $20 to $35 billion for a 51 percent stake.

So, while a stiff denial came first and all that has since been verified is that Comcast executives — among other suitors — were in the very beginning stages of talks with General Electric about NBCU and that deals like this often fail because of the complexity surrounding them, we can’t possibly ignore the buzz around this.

Thusly, after the jump, we bring you the best of the oh-my-God-could-a-Philadelphia-company-actually-own-one-of-the-most-storied-entertainment-brands-in-the-world hysteria below.

Read more