The Ultimate Media Marriage: Comcast and NBC? The Stuff of Nightmares.
By Susie Madrak Thursday Oct 01, 2009 1:00pm
You think you've seen conflicts of interest with Disney owning ABC? You ain't seen nothing yet. Imagine the same people who brought you Comcast just sort of ... massaging the media message in favor of their own corporate strategy. Yes, the same people who charge you for service calls for their unreliable cable will be in charge of the news coverage. Oh boy, what could be better?
NBC Universal executives declined to deny a report Wednesday night that Comcast, the cable giant, is in talks to buy the television and movie company from General Electric.
Comcast also did not deny the report that bankers for the two sides discussed a possible deal Tuesday in New York.
Such talks often lead nowhere, but rumors have circulated for months that GE might be looking to unload the news and entertainment company. NBC is stuck in fourth place among broadcast networks, and Universal Studios is enduring a rough movie season.
"We have no comment," NBC Executive Vice President Allison Gollust said.
Comcast spokeswoman D'Arcy Rudnay also would not address the reported talks. "While we don't comment on M&A [mergers and acquisitions] rumors, the report that Comcast has a deal to purchase NBC Universal is inaccurate," Rudnay told Bloomberg News.
That, however, was not what was reported by TheWrap.com, a Hollywood-based Web site founded by former Washington Post and New York Times reporter Sharon Waxman. That account cited sources who have knowledge of the talks.
[...] TheWrap's report comes as merger talks on Wall Street have heated up in recent weeks, after nearly coming to a standstill amid the global financial crisis.
If the reported discussions lead to a sale, it will give Comcast an enormous amount of content for its distribution pipeline. The takeover also would mean a new owner for NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, as well as the Spanish-language Telemundo network and USA and Bravo cable channels. In 2004, Comcast tried to buy the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, but eventually withdrew its unsolicited, $56 billion bid.
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We will sing the Corporate Anthem.
But first we will pledge allegiance to the Corporate Flag…
With the cunning use of flags...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEx5G-GOS1k
Silly rabbit, that is how the old British Empire makes jokes about times gone by.
This, is how the joke is on us, Orwell Rolls In His Grave.
Mind-blowing DVD.
I actually bought it and started it on down the line of being passed around. I'm still getting great reviews and thanks for it.
sung by Lady Gaga. America's hottest new sensation.
through my dawns foggy eyes
what so proudly we failed
at the party late last night
http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-in...
This is as bad an idea as AOL buying Time Warner. Time to break these conglomerates up again!
.
We have comcast cable here and if they handle this the way they handle their customers, this just can't be good.
Let's usher in the era of obsolescence for these MSM giants!
Yep, the Mainstream has been totally discredited.
Orwell Rolls In His Grave
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4467...
Thank you!
News is no longer reported, it is managed…
...is that Comcast has gotten something of a reputation for not carrying MSNBC. So why they'd go after NBC puzzles me...assuming any of this is legit.
What better way to control the message of the "opposition" than to acquire its outlet (or one of them)?
And Bill Moyers.
!
One of the first things comcast did after taking over adelphia was to take off cspan2 and make it such that if you wanted cspan2, you have to get a special box and pay an extra five bucks a month. But we do still get msnbc and cnbc. Of course we get fox news cable channel but thankfully not fox business channel.
I guess GE is done with them promoting wars for their "defense" products and denying their vaccine making processes using mercury has anything to do with autism.
http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/pr/hep-b-study...
of concepts I don't understand and tell me why you think GE makes vaccines. Or am I reading your post incorrectly?
As far as I know, GE has been out of the defense industry for years, and you lost me on that link. GE is not mentioned anywhere in that article, and when I search "GE vaccines" I find only listings on GENETICALLY ENGINEERED vaccines. Did I miss something?
!
This, from the company that uses Ben Stein as a spokesperson.
Totally unethical.
Which is why I guess they use him.
Corporate fascism never sleeps.
in 2004 we were going to get fibre optic lines throughout the city of batavia, illinois as a public competition option against comcast cable. comcast made psa's and used their cable channels to tell people to vote no on the proposition, just "vote no" over and over and over again. it was voted down. people are stupid and we can't ignore that fact but it should be recognized that companies like comcast abuse their position and should be prevented from doing so.
this is not good news even though nbc has had conflicts of interest since ge bought them.
and then there's Comcast evil.
Oh, but don't worry, I hear that Jay Leno is going to bail out NBC. (Insert Dr. Evil laugh here.)
BILL GATES' PIPE DREAM - TIME By Stacy Perman Monday, Jun. 23, 1997
Snip - But the convergence of television and computers got a big push last week when a couple of digital-era bosses, Microsoft king Bill Gates and Brian Roberts, president of Comcast Corp., agreed on a deal in which Microsoft will invest $1 billion for an 11.5% stake in the Philadelphia company, the nation's fourth largest cable operator, with 4.3 million subscribers.
[ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9... ]
[CMCSK] Comcast Corporation NASDAQ-GS
[ http://holdings.nasdaq.com/asp/Portfolio.asp?... ]
Comcast Would Get Content, Shareholder Anger With An NBC Buy
Snip - Even with Comcast's swift denial of a report that it has a deal to buy NBC Universal, shares of Comcast responded to the buzz by shedding as much as 7.3% Thursday as sources confirmed that the cable giant is in talks with General Electric Corp. (GE) about its entertainment conglomerate.
[ http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-news-story... ]
MSNBC, Its name is a combination of "Microsoft" and "NBC".
Throw a story out there and the shareholders make or lose money accordingly, albeit in the long run it helps to own the correct "type" of stock that pays off. Hedging? Welcom to the casino.
It can be good or bad, right now it's just theory.
Why are we all switching over to digital from analog?
I'm sorry but who did that Photoshop? Looks like a first attempt by a 5th grader.
Could start a game show. Can You Do Photoshop Better Than A 5th Grader?
Ya, but the skew makes him look more like a real geek. [i mean Republican]
..."NBC is stuck in fourth place among broadcast networks, and Universal Studios is enduring a rough movie season." Making the decision to drop "Medium" is a good example of why it's in fourth place.
How is a crappy network dropping a crappy show a good example of anything?
All of the "media" is owned or run by a very small group. Check the names of people sitting on the boards of the media giants.
Case in point: Which M$M or "investigative news outlet" has compared what we spend on the military versus what single-payer would cost us?
Hint - without looking I'd guess $10 military for every $0.10 of what healthcare would cost outright.
It is a matter of priorities for the wealthy - war makes more $$$$ so it is the name never spoken.
UGH!
CNBC (a component of NBC) confirms the deal is for 51% for Comcast. GE offloads at least 12 billion in debt. Here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33125100/ns/busin...
I worry about MSNBC, and Keith, Rachel et al.
Thanks for posting this. It's a huge deal and not getting enough scrutiny. Hopefully this get's bigger play on Kos, etc.
The M$M will try harder to save the GOP?
The take away: Republican net favorables were -30% and Democratic net favorables were 25%, which swamps the comparable results from the previous cycles.
Sure seems like Faux Spews aint gonna do it - the elephant is dying!
Then why is it happening?
We need to break all these media giants into smaller companies, not allow more consolidation, and that goes especially for NewsCorp. We are already have, by the corporation, for the corporation and of the corporation. How much more blatant does it have to be before the FCC does something?
ONE media company. THE FOXMSNBCCBSABC System
Is already the case
:(
The branch of Comcast Cable that services Huntsville, Alabama, acts in a manner that has a negative impact on the overall worth of NBC, and probably makes the property less valuable to the current owners. Comcast does not carry MSNBC in this market, and as a result MSNBC has a forced lower market share. Lower market share results in lower advertisement rates, which leads to less revenue for MSNBC and NBC proper. The negative impact on NBC's revenue is a direct result of Comcast's actions, and Comcast should not benefit from this.
Comcast is the oldest cable provider in this area, and the only alternative cable provider is Knology (with another company named Mediacom servicing some rural areas). I don't know if it's still the case, but back when I was an apartment dweller Comcast had exclusive contracts with many local apartment complexes and you could not get cable service from an alternate provider if you lived there.
In Albuquerque Comcast is the only cable provider. They also really suck big-time. Poor customer service sent us to Dishnet over ten years ago. We have never regretted the change.
Since "zabes" commented below that his/her Comcast affiliate moved MSNBC from analog to a higher-priced digital tier, I thought that I would note that the Comcast affiliate that services Huntsville, Alabama, doesn't offer MSNBC on any tier. We have zip codes 35801-35810 (plus others) if anyone wants to verify this.
Yesterday Comcrap took away MSNBC and moved it to a more expensive digital tier.
Faux News Channel still comes in loud and clear though.
Miss me Keith and Rachel.
Considering GE is a Top Ten military contractor, owning Comcast as well as NBC will be a great way to assure that there are always reasons to be at war with some country or other.
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