Comcast takes control of NBC Universal

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Comcast takes control of NBC Universal

EXCERPTS ONLY -- and just to get the article on the record here --

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business Writer – 1 hr 3 mins ago

The rules highlight the new battleground for entertainment in the home between traditional power players such as Comcast, which has lost subscribers in the economic downturn, and companies such as Netflix, which added them with its cheap service and compatibility with a range of devices. Netflix ended the year with 20 million customers after adding 3.1 million during the fourth quarter, by far the most during any three-month period since its service launched in 1999.

In the deal, Comcast paid General Electric just under $6.2 billion in cash and contributed its pay TV channels such as E! Entertainment Television and The Golf Channel, worth $7.25 billion, to NBC Universal.

GE's stake in NBC Universal fell to 49 percent from 80 percent, but GE plans to diminish that to zero by being paid out from the venture over about seven years. Earlier this week, GE bought out the 20 percent stake held by France's Vivendi SA for $5.8 billion in order to complete the deal.


Ahead of a town hall meeting with their new corporate bosses on Thursday, some 25,000 NBC Universal employees each received a certificate for 25 Comcast shares, worth $22.84 each on Friday; a family pass to one of the Universal theme parks; and other materials, including a "Big Idea Book" in which they were to record their own.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110129/ap_on_en_mo/us_comcast_nbc


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Gives Comcast 51 percent control of NBC Universal/NBC
Universal Pictures movie studio
Related theme parks -- bevy of cable channels, plus Bravo, E! and USA.

Comcast has 23 million subscribers for cable TV service
17 million who pay for Internet connections.

Comcast also has 32% share of Hulu -- co-owned with Walt Disney, News Corp and Providence Equity Partners -- Comcast had to give up decision-making power re Hulu.

And, another reminder that Comcast makes $1 billion a year from internet porn --