On Tuesday, the notorious telecommunications firm Comcast confirmed that it would follow through on a dramatic proposal it made to investors last month: to officially sell off almost all of its cable TV properties in a $7 billion deal. The purge will affect a large chunk of Comcast’s overall media portfolio, keeping only the core NBCUniversal brand (home to NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, and Universal) and the reality-TV empire Bravo. Meanwhile, over the course of a year, CNBC, E!, Fandango, the Golf Channel, MSNBC, Oxygen, Rotten Tomatoes, Syfy, and USA will all be severed from 30 Rock, packaged into a publicly traded company with the working title “SpinCo,” and overseen by NBCUniversal Media Group chairman Mark Lazarus.
Understandably, the vibes are off at the media company. Anchors at CNBC—which has undergone multiple layoff rounds over the past year—made grim jokes about the situation on air Wednesday as an inside source told the Hollywood Reporter that the mood was “annoyed, but probably fine.” (A staff meeting with Lazarus the very next day seemed to calm some nerves.) Things were even more jittery at MSNBC, with insiders telling media outlets that workers are “depressed” and “in a panic,” thanks to lingering uncertainty about how MSNBC will actually cut off its close connections with NBC—and whether it may even have to change its name. The embattled network was already smarting from plummeting postelection ratings and further viewer backlash to the Morning Joe co-hosts’ recent kiss-and-make-up session with Donald Trump when more bad news hit: Lachlan Cartwright’s report at the Ankler about an impending all-around host shake-up that will see even Rachel Maddow earning a softer paycheck.
Yet another unknown is how SpinCo will be expected to operate in the ever-whittling cable landscape when divorced from the still-powerful NBC brand. With Comcast retaining the reinvigorated Peacock streamer, SpinCo’s TV brands will have to figure out an ideal streaming situation to keep viewership consistent. They will also have to negotiate their carriage fees with network TV distributors while lacking the power and perks attached to the NBC name: the sports-broadcasting rights, the backing from Comcast revenue, and the audience brand loyalty in a time of relentless cord-cutting. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw reports that SpinCo will “explore acquiring other cable channels and creating its own streaming services,” with an eye toward expanding to include “channels specializing in documentaries or food-related shows.”
There are still more headwinds for SpinCo—most notably, Donald Trump’s incoming administration, whose ranks will likely include FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr as chairman of the entire regulatory body. Already, Carr has ranted publicly about NBC featuring Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live during the election cycle, and Trump sued CBS last month based on conspiratorial claims that 60 Minutes made “edits” favorable to Harris for the final cut of its interview. Any future SpinCo mergers/acquisitions will require federal approval, and we know from the first Trump administration that his team is not above punishing the cable channels he hates, such as CNN and, yes, MSNBC.