Comcast to spin-off NBCUniversal in a separate company

[lowell]

For a brief period in the early 2000's, Canal+ and Universal were used to part of the same company during the Vivendi Universal days, NBCUniversal buying Canal+ would be tough (but possible) due to European Commission competition rules.

Comcast shedding Sky Deutschland probably helps out with that part.

Either way, it'll be a full circle if NBCUniversal does reunite with Canal+ down the road.

 

[themidnightlore]

For a brief period in the early 2000's, Canal+ and Universal were used to part of the same company during the Vivendi Universal days, NBCUniversal buying Canal+ would be tough (but possible) due to European Commission competition rules.

There would be some real funny if somehow it managed to happen in Italy. Tele+... 2! (It was kinda close when Vivendi thought that buying Premium Mediaset was an intelligent idea. Then they changed ideas.)

 

[LinusFan303]

So who gets what now?

It's a simple split. Comcast is a the cable, internet, mobile phone company, and NBC Universal is the other stuff. It's like pre 2011, but without GE ruining things.

 

[lowell]

It's a simple split. Comcast is a the cable, internet, mobile phone company, and NBC Universal is the other stuff. It's like pre 2011, but without GE ruining things.

But NBCUniversal also gets full reins of Sky (European telecom and media) while Comcast focuses on wrapping itself with another U.S. telecom company down the line.

 

[Mandouga]

...while Comcast focuses on wrapping itself with another U.S. telecom company down the line.

We don't know that, and hopefully that doesn't happen.

 

[lowell]

We don't know that, and hopefully that doesn't happen.

We do know that Comcast's pulling an AT&T-style move here to refocus on its Xfinity telecommunications business.

If anything happens on that end, it might not even end up as a proposed full-on get together with Charter, if that's what you're thinking.

While analysts are talking about it, that's clearly not the only option here for Comcast.

For example, while Xfinity's cell phone offerings are currently dependent on Verizon infrastructure, Brian Roberts might decide to scoop up Dish Wireless from Charlie Ergen and commit to a full actual 5G mobile network buildout.

There are many possibilities here for Xfinity's future here but what Comcast lacks under their telecom operations right now is a robust cellular phone network that's on par with AT&T, Verizon, & T-Mobile.

Ergen didn't put that much effort into it but Roberts can get Michael Angelakis to build out that new revenue stream for Comcast.

 

[RegularCapital]

Comcast shedding Sky Deutschland probably helps out with that part.

Either way, it'll be a full circle if NBCUniversal does reunite with Canal+ down the road.

Well, RTL now owns Sky Deutschland, and the UK is no longer subject to the European Commission due to Brexit, the only notable services that Sky has in the rest of Europe are Sky Italia and the SkyShowtime streaming service. This is why I think such a merger would be cleared.

There's a lot of Sky-named assets around the world, that use the current branding or have their own, none of these are owned by what is going to be NBCUniversal, these just have a licensing agreement or was connected to the British Sky in the past, even Foxtel in Australia was Sky not in name only.

So in reality, Sky will just be Canal+, plus Italy in the EEA area, the SkyShowtime streaming service isn't that notable, it only exists in some countries due to a lack of NOW/Peacock and Paramount+, also it's a joint venture with Paramount, so NBCUniversal won't own all of it anyway.

 

[lowell]

Well, RTL now owns Sky Deutschland, and the UK is no longer subject to the European Commission due to Brexit, the only notable services that Sky has in the rest of Europe are Sky Italia and the SkyShowtime streaming service. This is why I think such a merger would be cleared.

There's a lot of Sky-named assets around the world, that use the current branding or have their own, none of these are owned by what is going to be NBCUniversal, these just have a licensing agreement or was connected to the British Sky in the past, even Foxtel in Australia was Sky not in name only.

So in reality, Sky will just be Canal+, plus Italy in the EEA area, the SkyShowtime streaming service isn't that notable, it only exists in some countries due to a lack of NOW/Peacock and Paramount+, also it's a joint venture with Paramount, so NBCUniversal won't own all of it anyway.

Yup, other than Sky UK & Italia, there's only Sky Ireland so a possible NBCUniversal-Canal+ union could definitely happen down the road.

As Skydance pulls out of the SkyShowtime joint venture (no formal announcement yet but its managment and operations are winding down), I wouldn't be surprised if it & Hayu both get folded if Peacock's international expansion becomes a new priority once Comcast officially announces Peacock reaches its profitability stage.

 

[JulianRO]

AOL Time Warner equivalent.......

 

[PF9]

This does open the door for an eventual acquisition of NBCU by Sony, which in turn would complete reducing the number of major studios from 10 years ago from 6 to 3 (after the Disney/Fox and Paramount/WB mergers), but this would be a highly undesirable outcome given how Disney/Fox affected the industry and things are going to get worse with Paramount/WB.

For the record, I don't support a Columbia/Universal merger, given the companies I want Sony to acquire instead.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

This does open the door for an eventual acquisition of NBCU by Sony, which in turn would complete reducing the number of major studios from 10 years ago from 6 to 3 (after the Disney/Fox and Paramount/WB mergers), but this would be a highly undesirable outcome given how Disney/Fox affected the industry and things are going to get worse with Paramount/WB.

For the record, I don't support a Columbia/Universal merger, given the companies I want Sony to acquire instead.

Sony doesn’t even show interest. Plus, they’re a Japanese company and are not allowed to own a U.S. broadcast network (NBC).

 

[lowell]

This does open the door for an eventual acquisition of NBCU by Sony, which in turn would complete reducing the number of major studios from 10 years ago from 6 to 3 (after the Disney/Fox and Paramount/WB mergers), but this would be a highly undesirable outcome given how Disney/Fox affected the industry and things are going to get worse with Paramount/WB.

For the record, I don't support a Columbia/Universal merger, given the companies I want Sony to acquire instead.

Eh, if the AI bubble's popping does have OpenAI drag Oracle down, it's far more likely that Skydance's WarnerDiscovery pursuit collapses and Larry Ellison calls up Sony to take Paramount Global off his hands and recoup his invested money to prop up his beloved Oracle.

Very hard to see Larry put the vanity project startups of Skydance or Annapurna taking priority over saving Oracle here.

Another point to make it is Paramount Global would also be a much cheaper acquisition by Sony because it would simply be a smaller company than NBCUniversal.

NBCUniversal has Universal theme parks & Sky's telecom businesss and will also be saddled with some of Comcast's $89B debt load.

Plus, there's actually already existing history between Sony and Paramount Global: CBS was actually a co-investor with Columbia & HBO in TriStar Pictures, CBS sold CBS Records to Sony, Jeopardy & Wheel Of Fortune rights are currently shared between Sony and CBS, and of course, CBS was originally called Columbia Broadcasting System so it does connect together with Columbia Pictures.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Eh, if the AI bubble's popping does have OpenAI drag Oracle down, it's far more likely that Skydance's WarnerDiscovery pursuit collapses and Larry Ellison calls up Sony to take Paramount Global off his hands and recoup his invested money to prop up his beloved Oracle.

Very hard to see Larry put the vanity project startups of Skydance or Annapurna taking priority over saving Oracle here.

Another point to make it is Paramount Global would also be a much cheaper acquisition by Sony because it would simply be a smaller company than NBCUniversal.

NBCUniversal has Universal theme parks & Sky's telecom businesss and will also be saddled with some of Comcast's $89B debt load.

Plus, there's actually already existing history between Sony and Paramount Global: CBS was actually a co-investor with Columbia & HBO in TriStar Pictures, CBS sold CBS Records to Sony, Jeopardy & Wheel Of Fortune rights are currently shared between Sony and CBS, and of course, CBS was originally called Columbia Broadcasting System so it does connect together with Columbia Pictures.

Sony is a Japanese company, so they can’t buy/own a U.S. broadcast network (CBS).

 

[PF9]

Besides, the Sony/Paramount ship has sailed.

Once PSKY and WBD complete their merger, it is highly unlikely Sony will be allowed to buy the combined entity in the future.

Foreign entities can also acquire terrestrial US stations under the right conditions considering I want Sony to buy the non-news assets of Fox Corporation.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Besides, the Sony/Paramount ship has sailed.

Once PSKY and WBD complete their merger, it is highly unlikely Sony will be allowed to buy the combined entity in the future.

Foreign entities can also acquire terrestrial US stations under the right conditions considering I want Sony to buy the non-news assets of Fox Corporation.

I meant that even if the merger with WB fails, Sony still can’t acquire Paramount if the latter owns CBS.

 

[lowell]

Sony is a Japanese company, so they can’t buy/own a U.S. broadcast network (CBS).

SPE and Sony Corporation of America (SCA/SONAM) are U.S. companies so CBS would fall under them.

Once PSKY and WBD complete their merger, it is highly unlikely Sony will be allowed to buy the combined entity in the future.

I would not jump to conclusions on Skydance’s WarnerDiscovery pursuit here.

I meant that even if the merger with WB fails, Sony still can’t acquire Paramount if the latter owns CBS.

There are ways for Sony to change around its ownership structure, though, to meet U.S. standards to get CBS.

Given SPE executives literally have more experience than the Skydance brass, they would easily do a better job at running CBS than David Ellison and his lieutenants at this point.

 

[PF9]

I do have suggestions for companies NBCU could acquire besides UMG.

NBCU could team up with Nintendo to acquire radio station operator Audacy Inc. (which owns some former NBC-owned radio stations, such as WFAN in NYC, the former WNBC-AM), with each company owning 50%.

For outright acquisitions, Hasbro could be acquired to gain access to some more iconic IPs (like MLP, GI Joe and Transformers), as well as Embracer Group (which owns Dark Horse Comics, which could relaunch titles once published by Gold Key Comics and Harvey Comics which are part of DreamWorks Classics), and MGM Resorts International to expand the Universal Destinations and Experiences division (which could result in any properties using the MGM name to be rebranded under the Universal name, to avoid confusion with the MGM movie studio which is owned by Amazon).

 

[lowell]

I do have suggestions for companies NBCU could acquire besides UMG.

NBCU could team up with Nintendo to acquire radio station operator Audacy Inc. (which owns some former NBC-owned radio stations, such as WFAN in NYC, the former WNBC-AM), with each company owning 50%.

For outright acquisitions, Hasbro could be acquired to gain access to some more iconic IPs (like MLP, GI Joe and Transformers), as well as Embracer Group (which owns Dark Horse Comics, which could relaunch titles once published by Gold Key Comics and Harvey Comics which are part of DreamWorks Classics), and MGM Resorts International to expand the Universal Destinations and Experiences division (which could result in any properties using the MGM name to be rebranded under the Universal name, to avoid confusion with the MGM movie studio which is owned by Amazon).

You do know, NBCUniversal is also going to be saddled with some of Comcast’s $89B debt load, right?

It’s way more likely they’ll be looking at smaller bite-size acquisitions than pay whopping amounts of money for big purchases.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

SPE and Sony Corporation of America (SCA/SONAM) are U.S. companies so CBS would fall under them.


I would not jump to conclusions on Skydance’s WarnerDiscovery pursuit here.


There are ways for Sony to change around its ownership structure, though, to meet U.S. standards to get CBS.

Given SPE executives literally have more experience than the Skydance brass, they would easily do a better job at running CBS than David Ellison and his lieutenants at this point.

If Sony did acquire Paramount, I would expect them to fold Sony Pictures Entertainment (and its divisions like Columbia Pictures) into Paramount, sell SPE's Culver City film lot (which Amazon MGM would be willing to acquire), sell the Spider-Man film rights to Disney, and move operations to Paramount’s film lot in Hollywood.

One other issue I’d see with Sony buying Paramount is the cable channels. Don’t know if Sony is interested in owning them.

 

[lowell]

If Sony did acquire Paramount, I would expect them to fold Sony Pictures Entertainment (and its divisions like Columbia Pictures) into Paramount, sell SPE's Culver City film lot (which Amazon MGM would be willing to acquire), sell the Spider-Man film rights to Disney, and move operations to Paramount’s film lot in Hollywood.

One other issue I’d see with Sony buying Paramount is the cable channels. Don’t know if Sony is interested in owning them.

Honestly, the LA operations would need a lot of extensive office space so I can't see them entirely dumping either of the lots. Since there are leased buildings in Burbank and Santa Monica, they could technically just end those leases and move the departments onto those 2 lots.

With the NYC operations, they could all be housed in one place so Sony could actually sell the CBS Broadcast Center, Paramount Global's Times Square building, and make a new headquarters building that can accommodate everything.

With regards to the channels, Sony could expand the brands beyond their linear form in a couple of ways so it's not an issue there.

But yeah, the cash proceeds from the Marvel rights would definitely allow Sony to reinvest into the business.