According to Variety reporter Cynthia Littleton, cable-provider Comcast is looking to acquire major shares in NBC Universal. This news comes just two weeks after the New York Times Business section printed an article speculating on whether or not Vivendi, the French media conglomerate, would be looking to sell its 20% share of the Peacock network. Vivendi, which originally owned Universal Studios, gained its NBC U stock in 2004 when the company merged with General Electric's NBC. The NYTimes does a great job of explaining how Vivendi is able to sell their shares: "Under the terms of that deal, Vivendi received the annual right to sell its stake, either through an initial public offering or by being bought out by G.E. The yearly window to exercise its option is from Nov. 15 though the Friday of the first full week of December."
Enter: Comcast. They reach 24 million subscribers in 39 states making it the nation's largest cable company. While Comcast itself denied that it was looking to acquire shares in NBC U, there have been rumblings in the media that NBC U's extremely strong cable channels (USA, Bravo, Syfy, etc.) is a huge draw for Comcast. Variety believes that the most likely scenario is that Comcast buys a controlling interest in NBC U (51%), while G.E. retains the other 49%.
If things play out like this, I think that the biggest concern would be anti-trust law violations, which prevent one company from having a monopoly over a certain market. There should be a separation between content/development and distribution. What if Comcast buys NBC U and decides to air some of its cable channels exclusively to Comcast subscribers? What happens to the people who have a different cable provider?
Ultimately, I doubt that these impending behind-the-scenes changes will be noticeable to the average television audience member, but it does provide an interesting ethical dilemma over how much power is too much for a media company. I'll continue to post links to various news outlets as more information becomes public knowledge.
Here are the link to the NYTimes and Variety articles about NBC U incase you don't feel like clicking on the links embedded above:
Vivendi Said to Prepare Sale of Stake in NBC Universal, Will Comcast acquire NBC?, Scenarios swirl around NBC U
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