Comcast said to be weighing NBC bid; denies report of $35 billion deal
Filed under: General Electric , Comcast, Time Warner
Comcast (CMCSA), the nation's largest cable company, is reportedly in talks to buy NBC Universal, the entertainment giant, from General Electric (GE) in a blockbuster deal that -- if true -- would reverberate throughout the media world. Comcast, which has been on the hunt for a content-rich media company, has been scrutinizing NBC Universal's books for some time, according to the Los Angeles Times.But Comcast denied a report from The Wrap's Sharon Waxman saying the cable giant had sealed a deal to pay $35 billion for NBC Universal. If consummated, the tie-up would marry NBC Universal's vast stable of content, from music to movies, with Comcast's giant digital-distribution network.
"While we do not normally comment on M&A rumors, the report that Comcast has a deal to purchase NBC Universal is inaccurate," a Comcast spokesperson said in a statement emailed to DailyFinance late Wednesday.
NBC Universal was similarly tight-lipped. "We have no comment," NBC Executive Vice President Allison Gollust told the Washington Post.
GE, which owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, is also said to be entertaining offers from buyers other than Comcast, including possibly Time Warner, the media giant that owns CNN and is itself the subject of speculation that it might spin off Time Inc., its storied stable of magazine titles.
French media giant Vivendi owns the remaining 20 percent of NBC Universal and has been weighing whether to sell its stake, an option it can excercise every year in November, per the 2004 deal with GE. News of the cable giant's interest may spur Time Warner, which is sitting on about $7 billion cash, to get off the sidelines. (Time Warner is preparing to spin off AOL, which publishes DailyFinance.)
Comcast, which has about $4 billion cash on hand, is hungry to gain control of a major media company in part because its new cable subscriber growth is slowing, but also to feed its ambitious plan to provide content "on-demand" through its cable pipes. Comcast has nearly 25 million cable subscribers.
If Comcast bought NBC Universal, the cable giant would gain control of a legendary -- if ailing -- broadcast network and movie studio, as well as several popular cable channels, including CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo and Telemundo, the Spanish-language station.
Increasingly, NBC Universal has been a drag on parent GE's earnings, and some shareholders have questioned why GE, an American industrial icon with a far-flung range of businesses including aircraft engines and financial services, is in the media game at all. In the second quarter of 2009, NBC Universal reported a 41 percent decline in profit and 8 percent drop in overall revenue. Wall Street analysts have valued the company at $30 to $35 billion.
NBC Universal's entertainment properties have certainly seen better days. The television network's ratings have been falling amid the proliferation of cable competitors and the general disintegration of the big three networks' long standing stranglehold of TV news and entertainment.
GE, which is perhaps most famous as a light-bulb manufacturer, first came to own NBC in 1986, when it acquired the network's parent, RCA, for $6.3 billion. The industrial conglomerate, whose long-standing motto was, "We bring good things to life," snapped up Telemundo for $2 billion in 2002, then picked up Universal for $5.4 billion in 2004.
News of the deal talks was first reported by Sharon Waxman, a former Washington Post and New York Times Hollywood reporter who has launched The Wrap, an entertainment news website based in Los Angeles.
The deal chatter comes nearly six years after Comcast's failed $54 billion bid for Disney (DIS). Ever since, Philadelphia-based Comcast has been on the prowl for a large media company with assets it could control and deliver through its massive cable network.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-06-2009 @ 11:18PM
anna muroc said...
Comcast, you are crazy for thinking of investing in NBC
remember how you Roberts guys, were so depressed after
paying a ridiculus price for Adelphia. YU are crazy. Yes
cnbc does need someone to help bail them out. You can
be their sucker YEA>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Reply
10-01-2009 @ 3:59AM
harry said...
cnbc and msnbc are worthless.. they don't have any viewers these two are the darlings of the leftwing loons...just like airamerica, they fail. nbc is part of the loons also. fox news rules, they have more viewers than the rest combined. the others are in the toilet...america votes with their remotes.
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10-01-2009 @ 10:58AM
mark said...
No one watches fox that much either Bill o reilly gets a 2 rating.
10-01-2009 @ 2:40PM
Davidrep said...
Harry, you're an Idiot!
There is no Fox News. There is a Fox network, but what passes off as "news" is nothing but neocon freak right-wing racist crap from the likes of Beck, Hannity, O'Reily, and the rest of the hate filled rednecks on that network.
Wake up Harry, and think for yourself! Don't let these bozo's tell you how to think. Moron!!
10-02-2009 @ 11:09AM
reecegswofford said...
Who would pay for Olberman-Oberfeurer, Matthews-The Bully, Madow-The Butch. & Ed-The Talking-Horse's-Rear-End. - - - Testimony to the Grace of the 1st Ammendment.
Still, Best of Luck to Keith & Father & Family
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10-01-2009 @ 2:50PM
davidrep said...
Hahahaha!! Yet another neocon freak right-wing racist who gets all his knowledge from Faux News!
"Testimony to the first amendment" is the sewage that spews from Beck, Hannity, O'Reily, and the rest of the windbags over there on that network everyday. Oh, and lets not forget about that fatass Rush.
Wake up you neocon freaks and start thinking for yourselves and you'll see the world in a better light.
God Bless Michelle and President Obama, and God Bless the LIBERAL United States of America!!! Hahahaha!!!
10-01-2009 @ 8:39AM
joserydesagain said...
The only thing NBC has that is worth watching is NFL, especially Sunday night. Other than that, I never make the mistake of even 'remotely' coming close to them.
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10-01-2009 @ 9:06AM
Bob & Carol, Ted & Alice said...
For God's sake, Comcast can't run a cable company, let alone a newtork. The worst customer service in the business, bar none. Let 'em buy Fox...that won't have a negative effect on anybody!
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10-01-2009 @ 11:30AM
Julie said...
Maybe if Comcast owned this sorry excuse for a network, their news division would clean house and get rid of the leftwing lunatics that are currently in the mix. Their ratings are terrible because the people they have presenting their leftwing agenda are terrible.
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10-01-2009 @ 10:13PM
Chel said...
Ralph and Brian Roberts are a whole lot less liberal and from a money standpoint, conservative and whoever said they'd clean house @ the news division nailed it on the head. NBC would be doing themselves a huge favor by allowing this group to buy them out. GE has screwed over NBC and held them in a choke hold newswise to cater to their bottom line (energy products). Maybe if Comcast or Timewarner took over, NBC might have a chance to be relevant again.
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10-01-2009 @ 12:52PM
MrDoughnut said...
Replacing Micky Mouse with the Comcast Turtles would be typical of over charging businesses these days.
Somebody should by Comcast an then lower the ridiculous cable tv prices!
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10-01-2009 @ 1:34PM
Marc said...
Until GE understands that NBC is a liberal network, they will continue to slide and slide fast! America wants balanced news. What is so damn hard to understand!!!!!! Dang, I feel like the smartest man on earth here!
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10-01-2009 @ 1:34PM
Marc said...
mark..."Fox gets a 2 rating. What the hell are you talking about. I'll be damned if I can figure out a far left lib. Incoherent and dumb. What else can you say?!
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10-01-2009 @ 1:37PM
Mikey the Nail said...
Time now for the government to reel in Comcast before it destroys itself and the cable TV industry along with it.
This company has gotten so big, it's like the AIG of cable television.
If the regulators don't lower the boom on Comcast expansion it will eventually meet the same fate as AIG -- a "too big to fail" taxpayer bailout, courtesy of the people who are "too little to matter."
In fact, Comcast's inevitable demise could bring about the end of television as we know it.
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10-01-2009 @ 4:50PM
Michael said...
Here's hoping that MSNBC goes off the air! The untruths and misinformation they fabricate for broadcasting is despicable!
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10-26-2009 @ 9:10AM
Mark Watson said...
House, M.D. is in their sixth season on FOX, despite Comcast's impending purchase of NBC Universal should keep Hugh Laurie in the Comcast fold - if GE offloads the media operations founded by RCA in 1926.
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