Comcast is spinning off Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, and numerous NBCUniversal (NBCU) cable networks into separate companies. That means USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and Golf Channel will soon have a new home. Comcast also relies on NBCU’s other businesses, including NBC, Peacock, Movie and TV Studios, Telemundo, and theme parks. Bravo is also working tenaciously to feed Peacock’s ever-hungry reality TV appetite.
Comcast said the new entity is a “tax-free spin-off” and the move is “expected to be accretive to Comcast’s revenues and to be approximately neutral to Comcast’s leverage position.” Ta. In other words, it’s about money, and perhaps about laying the groundwork for further consolidation among major media companies. The spunout property has raised about $7 billion between the companies over the past year or so, but its future parent company remains affiliated with NBCU. Comcast aims to complete the transition within the next year.
In a press release, Comcast calls the spinoff company “SpinCo,” but that is a working name and likely not the actual company name. After all, having a parent company named “SpinCo” doesn’t necessarily bode well for journalists at CNBC or MSNBC.
