Whoa, Comcast really did offload most of its cable properties

Looks like Comcast is going to be an industry pioneer: it’s the first company in the streaming era to move forward with breaking up its properties in order to survive. Back in the day, these major conglomerates gobbled up other companies with questionably legal, monopolistic fervor. (Comcast does Wi-Fi and movies?) Now the only way to survive is to shed some weight and, hopefully, some debt. 

On Wednesday, Comcast announced the birth of a new independent company currently called “SpinCo,” which will be a “tax free spin-off” composed of several NBCU cable networks: MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, Syfy, and Golf Channel. SpinCo will also include the properties Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, online golf-course booking service GolfNow, and youth-sports platform SportsEngine, according to Variety. This new entity will be owned by Comcast shareholders and is set up to continue as an independent company that can acquire other digital and media properties, or to continue selling itself off for parts (which should apparently be easier now that it’s not nested within the larger NBCU). The spin-off is expected to be completed within a year, pending approval from the Comcast board of directors. 

“When you look at our assets, talented management team and balance sheet strength, we are able to set these businesses up for future growth,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement about the announcement (via Variety). “With significant financial resources from day one, SpinCo will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners.”

In his own statement, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said, “This transaction positions both SpinCo and NBCUniversal to play offense in a changing media landscape. Taken together, the entirety of NBCUniversal will be on a new growth trajectory, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent—all working in concert with each other as an integrated media company.”

Interestingly, though not surprisingly, Bravo has survived NBCU’s amputation of its cable business; the reality TV juggernaut is “seen as a key to Peacock’s success,” per Variety. In addition to Bravo and the streaming service Peacock, NBCUniversal will now comprise the NBC broadcast network and stations, NBC News Group, NBC Sports, Telemundo, the Universal theme parks and resorts, and NBCU’s film and television studios.