For Comcast, the purchase is the realization of its long-held ambition to be a major producer of television shows and movies.
News of the negotiations broke in late September, and in the ensuing weeks G.E. worked to resolve details with Comcast, while simultaneously negotiating to buy out a 20 percent stake in NBC Universal held by Vivendi, the French telecommunications conglomerate. It was this last part that proved difficult. G.E. and Comcast’s part of the transaction has essentially been complete for weeks, but the final step was held up by the negotiations between G.E. and Vivendi. Vivendi will receive about $5.8 billion for its stake.
Jeff Zucker, the current head of NBC Universal, will stay on as chief executive and report to the chief operating officer of Comcast, Steve Burke. In a statement released by the companies Thursday morning, Mr. Zucker called the deal the “start of a new era” for NBC.
We use Dish Network to watch the news, mostly on MSNBC, NBC, C-SPAN and CNN. It will be a big deal to us if any of our favorites, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, etc. lose their shows. We are both political news "nuts," and much less nutty about old movies. So we wait with baited breath to see what happens, knowing that we can still buy GE light bulbs.
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