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Comcast officially moved forward with its proposed plan of spinning off the majority of its cable assets into a separate company.
Plugged In: Spinning off its declining cable brand frees NBCUniversal to focus on its stable or growing businesses without the extra weight on its balance sheet.
Between the Spinoffs: The new cable-focused company, dubbed “SpinCo” for now, is ready to be the king of a dying kingdom.
- SpinCo will include MSNBC, CNBC, Universal Kids, USA, E!, Oxygen, and Syfy… but not Bravo, which is considered an important programmer for Peacock.
- NBCU chairman Mark Lazarus will head SpinCo, while Chief Content Officer Donna Langley and DTC head Matt Strauss will run the slimmed-down NBC in expanded roles.
- SpinCo, whose assets bring in roughly $7 billion in annual revenue, will be free to acquire other cable assets or position itself for a sale or merger.
- Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said SpinCo will also eventually go public, but there’s no specific timeline.
The Future: Cable brands still bring in significant ad revenue, but they’re nearly all trending downward as customers cut the cord and depart for streamers. Comcast has made the calculation that content investment is better suited for growing platforms like Peacock and flagship brands like NBC, NBC News, and NBC Sports. Wall Street is a bit on the fence with the plan, but the outlook seems positive for Comcast. If that holds, expect every other media conglomerate — especially Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery — to follow Comcast’s playbook.
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