Cable giant Comcast already owned around 51% of NBC Universal, but today it announced a deal to buy the rest of the company. This places the TV, film, news, online properties, and theme parks of NBC Universal of under the leadership of the same company that’s in charge of delivering those properties to viewers. Deregulation has made this possible as in the past this would have been labeled as a vertical monopoly and banned.
I don’t expect to see much change going forward, Comcast has already installed many of its own executives atop the NBC Universal chain of command. Long time watchers will remember that Comcast first tried to takeover the Walt Disney Company. NBC Uni is a great consolation prize, but it certainly has its own issues.
Do you think a cable company should be allowed to own cable networks? What will prevent managers from placing pressure on negotiators to make it difficult for competitors to get their cable networks on Comcast?