Comcast said Wednesday that it will spin off its cable networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, in a bid to unshackle its movie studio and theme parks from the waning fortunes of traditional television.
NBCUniversal, Comcast’s media division, is set to cleave off a bundle of cable channels that generate roughly $7 billion in revenue annually, including USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel, into a new public company. Comcast will keep the NBC broadcast network under NBCUniversal, along with Bravo, home to reality TV programs like “Top Chef,” the company’s theme parks and its Universal studio…
Cable television, once a juggernaut that propelled the share prices of traditional media companies, has become a financial albatross. Though they remain enormously profitable, cable TV channels are in long-term decline as viewers replace subscriptions with streaming services like Netflix or YouTube TV.
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