GE in talks to sell NBC to Comcast

Posted Oct 2nd 2009 5:30PM by Connie Madon
Filed under: Deals, Products and Services, Industry, Competitive Strategy, Headline News

General Electric Co. (NYSE GE), owner of the 83 year old peacock NBC, wants to sell part of it to Comcast Corp. (NYSE: CCT), according to Alisa Roth, who reports that GE has entered into negotiations with Comcast to do just that.

Comcast is already the biggest cable operator in the country. If the deal goes through Comcast would own NBS, Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC, and other channels.

But there is a fly in the ointment. Vivendi (OTC: VIVEF ) owns 20% of NBC, and it is not clear whether or not it wants to sell. There could also be antitrust issues because Comcast already operates in so many places. Plus if NBC is up for grabs, other companies could join in the fray.

Under terms of the deal, GE would still retain a minority stake in NBC.

Stay tuned for more developments.

Tags: cable companies, comcast, deals, inthenews, nbc

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-02-2009 @ 6:38PM

TAMI said...

sell to Rupert!

10-02-2009 @ 11:35PM

SouthernMan said...

There is a line to which conflict of interest should be visible. I believe that line is plainly right here ...Comcast is already almost monopolistic and bully like. Lets keep the provider and the content seperate. Now if Comcast wants to forma new company to buy NBC that would be different..what I am saying is that a company that can provide the product as well as the delivery begs the question if that is too much control and whether it would be healthy for the consumer.