Comcast buying NBC?
AP is reporting that Philly-based cable-TV giant Comcast is in serious talks to buy a stake in NBC-Universal from its parent, General Electric - a move that would greatly expand the city's clout in the world of show business.
"Live, from Philadelphia, it's 'Saturday Night'!"
OK, maybe not, but it was widely reported last night in Hollywood that Philly-based cable-TV giant Comcast is in serious talks to buy NBC-Universal from its parent, General Electric - a move that would greatly expand the city's clout in the world of show business.
Besides the legendary "Peacock Network," home to Jay Leno, "The Office" and "Saturday Night Live," NBC-Universal also includes the news channel MSNBC, business channel CNBC, and entertainment networks USA and Bravo, as well as Universal Pictures.
The proposed deal would fulfill a long-standing desire by Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, to control more of the content that it sends to its 25 million customers. Earlier in the decade, Comcast launched an aggressive but ultimately unsuccessful effort to buy the Walt Disney Co., the parent of another one of the original Big 3 networks, ABC.
Reports of the Comcast-NBC-Universal negotiations were broken last night by longtime Hollywood journalist Sharon Waxman on her Web site, The Wrap, and then reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Waxman reported that the cost of the proposed deal - which is not finalized - is $35 billion, a price that is considerably lower than it would have been just a year ago. That may reflect the fact that NBC is mired in fourth place in the TV ratings and that Universal Pictures released a series of flops over the summer, she noted.
Comcast, in a statement, said there was not a deal: "While we do not normally comment on . . . rumors, the report that Comcast has a deal to purchase NBC Universal is inaccurate."
- Will Bunch