Who has more pulling power, Hollywood stars or the cables that pipe them into viewers’ homes? Comcast on Monday announced that it would separate its legacy broadband and cable television distribution segment from its media and entertainment business. That will involve spinning off NBCUniversal, the television broadcast network and movie studio that it announced in 2009 that it was acquiring from General Electric, as well as Sky.
When Comcast ventured into media, content was king. Legacy media properties were the toast of Wall Street, with a handful of titans dominating the attention of consumers around the world. The Roberts family, which controls Comcast, spun a tale of combining content with distribution, as well as amusement parks.
That narrative held for some time. But the Comcast conglomerate model has fallen out of favour. Its shares are down 60 per cent in the past five years — although that includes the effect of a spin-off earlier this year — and its market capitalisation of $83bn is roughly the same as its net debt