As the inevitable demise of cable television accelerates, telecom giant Comcast has decided to cut its losses and separate itself from MSNBC and other cable networks.
“Comcast Corporation today announced its intention to form a new publicly traded company comprised of NBCUniversal’s strong portfolio of cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel. ” read Company statement.
Also being spun off into the new company are “complementary digital assets such as Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, and Sports Engine.”[.]”
For now, Comcast is calling the new company “SpinCo.”
Here’s what Comcast will continue to hold…
“The planned separation will strategically position NBCUniversal to hold key broadcast and streaming media assets including NBC Entertainment, Sports, News, and Bravo, all of which support Peacock, as well as theme park Business and film and television studio Telemundo will also be added.
NBCUniversal, of course, refers to Universal Studios, the NBC broadcast network and film and television studio. Bravo originally started in 1980 as an upscale performing arts network, but today it's a powerhouse in reality TV. We provide programming that can be produced at low cost (real housewife franchise, top chef, project runwayetc.), attracting millions of viewers and earning exorbitant profits. Bravo is essential to Comcast's streaming platform Peacock (which also remains on the mothership). Not only because the shows are popular, but because Peacock subscribers love to dig into and binge-watch those shows.
So why is Comcast scrapping the rest? Three reasons…1) stock price, 2) stock price, and 3) stock price.
Cable TV is dying. It's a slow death and I've been documenting it for 10 years, but we've now reached the beginning of the end.
As more people cancel their cable and satellite TV (CSTV) subscriptions in favor of streaming, the value of those cable channels will decline, hurting their parent companies' stock prices. By holding on to its most valuable assets and letting go of its dying assets, Comcast's stock price will be freed from the effects of CSTV.
You see, for nearly half a century, Hollywood has somehow convinced 100 million American households to pay big bucks for TV channels they never watched. If you want CSTV, you'll need to subscribe to a bundle package that includes dozens of networks. If all you want is Fox News and Turner Classic Movies, you're out of luck because all you have is CNN, MSNBC, MTV, Comedy Central, and other underground-rated networks that almost no one watches.
The most despicable part is that it subsidizes hate news organizations like CNN and MSNBC, whether you watch it or not. A portion of their monthly cable bill goes directly into their pockets. CNN could not survive on a merit-based system. Too few people watch CNN to actually make money from advertising. That's why CNN is subsidized through CSTV's affirmative action, and tens of millions of Americans send hundreds of millions of dollars to CNN through their cable bills each year. This is called transportation cost.
Streaming is killing CSTV. First, it's much cheaper, but it's also convenient because you can watch what you want when you want. Then there's advertising. Even streaming outlets that include ads aren't as punishing as CSTV hitting you with 20 minutes of ads per hour.
Comcast sees the writing on the wall. Instead of 100 million households subscribing to CSTV, it is now closer to 60 million. There is still a lot of free money flowing into MSNBC and CNN, but production costs will eventually reduce the amount to the point where these networks are no longer profitable. Within 10 years, most cable news stations will either disappear and become buried or become the loss-making leaders of streaming services. Not only are corporate media losing subscribers, but this election proves that corporate media no longer has the upper hand in the influence department. This reality makes the company even less valuable to its parent company. +
There's a lot to dislike about these streaming services, but at least on a merit basis. To keep your earnings, you need to subscribe to Netflix, Disney+, or Max. At CSTV, we were never made to pay for trash we didn't see.
CNN's streaming service CNN+ lasted less than a month, which says it all.
Another reason why millions of people are canceling their CSTV packages is the incredible amount of free programming via streaming. If you have a Roku box and high-speed internet, you'll be amazed at all the free features. Pluto, FreeVee, and Roku TV are essentially free versions of cable TV with fewer ads. News, sports, classic TV, new shows all at once, true crime, movies galore…
I don't understand why anyone would pay for any kind of TV in 2024.
John Nolte's first and last novel. borrowed time, winning five star rave From daily readers. You can read an excerpt here and a detailed review here. Also available in hard cover And even more Kindle and audio book.
