JAY LENO - WILL COMCAST AND NBC MERGE?

WILL COMCAST AND NBC MERGE?

After initially expressing skepticism about a report that originated with Sharon Waxman's TheWrap.com, prominent business news media on Thursday confirmed from their own sources that General Electric, the principal owner of NBC Universal and Comcast, the nation's largest cable dealer, were in talks that would result in Comcast acquiring a majority stake in NBC Universal. CNBC's David Faber, one of the original skeptics (he originally commented "An entertainment gossip site -- this is where we are in journalism today -- started a great deal of speculation on whether Comcast would buy or take control of NBC Universal -- that is not the case.") reported that the deal would involve GE spinning off NBC into a new company in which Comcast would own 51 percent and GE, 49 percent. Faber, whose own cable network would be included in the deal, said that Comcast would likely contribute $7 billion in cash to the deal while GE would buy out Vivendi's 20 percent stake in NBC Universal for about $12 billion and package that amount as debt in the deal with Comcast. Today's (Friday) Wall Street Journal reported that the deal would include "mechanisms" to allow GE to sell its entire stake in the company eventually. The New York Times observed that the deal could take up to a month to complete and faces numerous regulatory hurdles. Meanwhile, reports of the deal may signal other media conglomerates that NBC is in play. "Time Warner is certainly out there," former NBC Universal chairman Bob Wright told the Times. In a message to staff Thursday, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said that while "it is our longstanding policy not to comment on rumors," some "exciting possibilities" now face the company. "I do appreciate that these stories often cause anxiety. But, really, the only thing for each of us to do is to do our jobs with the same focus we always have." Doing his job as host of NBC's Jay Leno Show Thursday night, Leno commented, "The big cable system operator, Comcast, is now in talks with GE to buy NBC. Gee, I thought that cash for clunkers program was over."

02/10/2009