NBC...on verge of being taken over by Comcast???

[Stuart G]

from the New York Times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/business/media/02nbc....

By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Published: November 1, 2009

General Electric and the cable giant Comcast have moved closer to a deal giving control of NBC Universal to Comcast, and a formal announcement could be made sometime next week, people briefed on the talks said




After a series of meetings last week, the two companies reached a tentative agreement on Friday over the main points of a deal, these people said. Comcast would own about 51 percent of NBC Universal, contributing several billions of dollars in cash and its own stable of cable networks to the new venture

[Pab Sungenis]

1. I wish they'd spend the money on

FIXING THEIR FUCKING SERVICE

[T Wolf]

13. A-fucking-men! ever since the digital "upgrade" we were forced into, every set in the

house gets a different set of stations, neither the VCR nor DVD player works, and there still is the same shit on 100 channels - nothing worth watching.

Add in their reich-wing politics and the service they provide does not "serve us."

[RDANGELO]

2. So, we will have a network controlled by a cable company.

Is this not in violation of some anti trust law, or is it just that nobody cares?

[no limit]

5. I don't think its anything new. Time warner owns CNN, right?

Disney owns ABC, etc, etc, etc.

[HillbillyBob]

9. It is in violation of Ethics at the very least, it seems to me

there was a time when it would have either been unlawful and or would have had to have a series of hearings by the FCC, that is until the Rpigs f 'd every thing and everyone up and deregulated or killed every fairness law etc.

[rurallib]

16. Ethics? where there is money to be made? Ethics?

such an old fashioned concept.
( just joking - not mocking )

[pscot]

15. Anti-trust? You must be joking.

Corporations rule.

[JanusAscending]

3. This is NOT good news!!

Comcast has it in for MSNBC, and I've accused them of this when they switched over to digital, they made it inaccessible to those who didn't buy the "box"!! I worry we may lose our only liberal leaning cable news shows! I don't know what we'd do without Keith O. and Rachel!!!

[drm604]

11. I'm not defending this takeover, and I'm not defending Comcast

but when they required me to switch to digital I didn't have to buy anything. I got three boxes for free with no increase in monthly charges. That wasn't true everywhere?

[Taverner]

4. Tinfoil hat talk here, but do you think this might be about silencing MSNBC?

[MadBadger]

6. No, this is about NBC not making GE much money

[liberal N proud]

7. Or in simpler terms: GREED!

[MadBadger]

10. I'm not sure if NBC is making GE any money at all. They might be taking a hit from them.

I wouldntn call it greed to sell a struggling asset. Id call that smart business.

[meegbear]

8. Ummmm ... no.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Ummmm ... why not?

[meegbear]

14. Because I said so, that's why.

[FiveGoodMen]

17. That's what I thought

[mackerel]

18. Page Not Found when I try to click on link.

[lxlxlxl]

19. omg you mean the ge that pushed their agenda in 08 (sarcasm)

i remember when some peope on du claimed that every olbermann special comment represented the corp interests of GE. i laughed.

that said. i dont know anything about comcast's corporate ownership, and came to DU to see if anyone here had strong opinions. they' dont.

i hope that comcast doesnt turn MSNBC a 'lets see how cheap we can make it' operation. actually i dont know what msnbc and nbc universal's ownership means.

lets see. if they cut msnbc it wouldnt be anything new for this country's media.