Comcast and GE announce NBC Universal Joint Venture

This morning, Comcast and General Electric announced a new joint venture that will bring together Comcast’s cable programming networks (including our regional sports networks), Fandango and Daily Candy with the broadcasting, cable programming, movie studio, theme park, and online content businesses of NBC Universal. I’d like to take this opportunity to share details of the venture and explain why I am personally so excited about it.

Over the past decade, Comcast has transformed itself from a traditional cable company to one of the nation’s leading entertainment, communications and information providers, focused on delivering consumers the entertainment and information they want, when and where they want it. Today’s announcement opens up new opportunities to advance that goal.

First, a few facts about the deal. Comcast will hold a 51 percent stake in the new company and will control and manage its operations, with GE (the current majority owner of NBCU) owning the remaining 49 percent. NBC Universal and Comcast networks will retain their popular consumer brand names. I am pleased to be partnering with Jeff Immelt who is one of the most respected business leaders in America and to have GE’s continued involvement. You can find the press release here.

It’s easy to see why this combination is a great strategic fit when you think about the new opportunities it creates to provide “anytime, anywhere” content to consumers. NBCU’s assets include two national broadcast networks (NBC and Telemundo), Emmy Award-winning shows like The Office and 30 Rock, one of the best sports programming lineups in America, including the Olympics and NFL football, a Hollywood studio with one of the most celebrated content libraries with 4000+ titles and a portfolio of best in class cable networks. It is also a leader in serving the growing Hispanic audience. Bringing these assets together with great Comcast content like E!, the Golf Channel, Versus and our 10 regional sports networks, and our existing commitment to serve diverse audiences, will create a base from which all of these content assets will grow in quality. The new venture will facilitate the launch of new content as well as innovative distribution opportunities through multiple platforms in and out of the home.

Importantly, the new company will be financially strong with significant cash flow and a conservative capital structure that will only help fuel its ability to innovate and grow. In today’s increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving digital marketplace, where consumers demand more interactive services and more content choices when and where they want them, having a sound and flexible business structure will be critical to our success.

Finally, let me just spend a moment on the people that will be involved in this new enterprise. Comcast, as you know, has a long and successful track record of integrating new businesses, and the team we have in place here to do that is second to none. Our team will be led by Steve Burke, who oversaw Comcast’s very successful integration of AT&T Broadband – a much larger company – into Comcast several years ago. Jeff Zucker will be the CEO of the new venture and will report to Steve Burke. We are delighted to have Jeff and his talented team join our company.

While the new venture will operate at arm’s-length from Comcast’s cable operations, the opportunities for collaboration and innovation will generate consumer benefits that we are eager to explore.

The transaction is subject to certain federal government approvals and will begin the process of government review in the next 30 days. Our hope is to move expeditiously to take advantage of the important opportunities that this new combination will provide. We will provide periodic updates here on Comcast Voices, and as always we welcome your comments.

Editor's Note: Comcast has made an unprecedented number of proactive commitments to benefit consumers and further the public interest as part of this proposed transaction. Click here to read more.

Click here to read the Spanish translation of this post.