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Tag: nbc

  • Comcast and GE Form Venture and Take Control of NBC

    Comcast and General Electric announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture that will be 51 percent owned by Comcast, 49 percent owned by GE and managed by Comcast.

    The joint venture will consist of the NBC Universal businesses and Comcast’s cable networks, regional sports networks and certain digital properties and certain unconsolidated investments.

    A portfolio of cable networks and regional sports networks will account for about 80 percent of the new venture cash flow, including USA, Bravo, Syfy, E!, Versus, CNBC and MSNBC. The campanies assure the joint venture will be financially strong “with a robust cash-flow-generation capability.”

    GE will contribute to the joint venture NBCU’s businesses valued at $30 billion, including its cable networks, filmed entertainment, televised entertainment, theme parks, and unconsolidated investments, subject to $9.1 billion in debt to third party lenders.

    Comcast will contribute its cable networks including E!, Versus and the Golf Channel, its ten regional sports networks, and certain digital media properties, collectively valued at $7.25 billion, and make a payment to GE of approximately $6.5 billion of cash subject to certain adjustments based on various events between signing and closing.

    According to Jeff Immelt, GE Chairman and CEO, the combination of Comcast’s cable and regional sports networks and digital media properties and NBCU will deliver strong returns for GE shareholders and business partners.

    “NBCU has been a great business for GE over the past two decades. We have generated an average annual return of 11 percent, while expanding into cable, movies, parks and international media. We are reducing our ownership stake from 80 percent to 49 percent of a more valuable entity. By doing so, GE gets a good value for NBCU. This transaction will generate approximately $8 billion of cash at closing with an expected small after-tax gain,” he said.

    Comcast also announced the creation of Comcast Entertainment Group (CEG), which will house Comcast’s interest in the joint venture and will stand alongside Comcast Cable, which operates the company’s traditional cable business.

    Headquarters for the business will remain in New York. The joint venture board will have three directors nominated by Comcast and two nominated by GE.

    Jeff Zucker, current president and CEO of NBCU, will be CEO of the new joint venture and will report to Steve Burke, Comcast Chief Operating Officer. Zucker said, “I’m genuinely excited that I will be leading this wonderful organization, along with the Comcast team, at this important time in our history."

  • Viewers glued to HD Olympics coverage

    First all high definition Games proving irresistible as viewing figures climb

    NBC Universal is attracting an average of 29.1 million US viewers to its coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games, according to figures just released.

    While viewership was undoubtedly helped by the extravant opening ceremony and early coverage of US swimming star Michael Phelps, the unprecedented high def footage must take some of the credit.

    For the first time by a US broadcaster at a Summer Olympics, NBC is broadcasting the whole Olympic Games entirely in high definition.

    This will stretch to some 3,600 hours of Beijing coverage, the most ambitious single media project in history.

    The viewing results make it the most highly rated broadcast of the Summer Games held outside the United States since 1976.

    A total of 114 million viewers turned on their TVs for at least part of the broadcast in the first two days, about 20 million more than the 2004 games in Athens, NBC said, citing figures from Nielsen Media Research.

    Meanwhile, Fuji Television Network and NTT Corp are using the Games to test out “non-compressed HDTV video transmission using a wireless technology based on the 120GHz milliwave band” in live feeds from Beijing events.

    By utilising the technology, the duo say they have demonstrated “simultaneous, wireless transmission of multiple HDTV video channels without delay”.

    This enables camera-toting employees to capture footage from more places by being able to walk around untethered.

  • NBC uses Olympics to promote HDTV and study viewer habits

    NBC has made no secret of the fact it plans to use the Beijing Olympics as a campaign platform for HDTV.
    Now the US network has announced that the summer games will also act as a research lab to guage how viewers use different media platforms.

    The network hopes its research will reveal how people combine, for example, high def TV coverage of an event with tools such as video streaming, video on demand and mobile phones.
    Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s research chief, said the company would publicly issue a TAMi (Total Audience Measurement Index) for the first time.
    This is designed to measure the full range of cross-platform media consumption of the Olympics throughout the 17 days of coverage.

    NBCU will also conduct the largest research project in its history, taking advantage of the unique scope and duration of the Olympics to further the industry’s understanding of cross-platform media usage.
    “An event of this magnitude requires the biggest and most sophisticated research effort to measure it,” said Wurtzel.
    “The size and duration of the Olympics presents us with extraordinary opportunities to gather data on viewer behaviour.”

    NBC has scheduled 3,600 hours of Olympics programming on its main network, along with Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo.
    In addition, the company is planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com.
    Consumers may also get video on demand via their computer and Olympics content through their mobile phones.
    “Not only will we measure these Games in a way we’ve never done before, but we’ll also be able to gather data that helps us better understand the new media consumer,” said Wurtzel.
    “At the end of the Olympics, no other research entity in the world will have as much knowledge on cross-platform usage as NBC Universal.”