Comcast set to buy NBC Universal from GE

nbcGeneral Electric’s propaganda network of NBC and MSNBC is about to be sold, to to cable TV operator Comcast Corporation. Comcast is expected to buy the controlling stake in NBC Universal, possibly this coming week. No word yet if the left wing propaganda networks will change at all under Comcast’s control, rather than Jeffrey Immelt’s General Electric. Don’t hold your breath though. The AP has more:

“This is highly symbolic,” said Tim Brooks, who had worked at NBC for 20 years and now writes books on television history.

Starting Sunday, Vivendi SA has an option to sell its 20 percent stake in NBC Universal. Majority owner General Electric Co. is expected to buy it and then sell a 51 percent stake of the entire NBC Universal unit to Comcast, which serves about a quarter of the nation’s subscription TV households.

Broadcast people, the folks who remember when television was ABC, CBS, NBC and little else, used to look down upon cable.

The idea of broadcast TV was implied in the name; the networks tried to reach the broadest possible audience. For cable it’s important to do something specific and do it well, and the audience doesn’t need to be as large.

NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker recognizes this. Cable properties such as USA, SyFy, CNBC and The Weather Channel mean more to NBC Universal’s bottom line than staggering NBC, fourth place in the ratings.

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November 14, 2009 · Filed Under Liberal Media Bias


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