(Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp. plans to spin off cable-TV channels including MSNBC, CNBC and USA, following through on plans first announced last month.

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The NBC broadcast network and Peacock streaming TV business will remain with the parent company, the Philadelphia-based cable provider said in a statement Wednesday. So will Bravo, a cable channel with reality TV shows that are popular on streaming. The new publicly traded company will include digital assets such as Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes through a tax-free spin-off, Comcast said.

The assets in the newly separated entity, including Oxygen, E! and Syfy, have collectively generated about $7 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, according to the company.

The transaction positions the new entity and NBCUniversal “to play offense in a changing media landscape,” Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said. “Taken together, the entirety of NBCUniversal will be on a new growth trajectory, fueled by our world-class content, technology, IP, properties and talent.” The remaining NBCUniversal businesses will have almost $40 billion in annual revenue, still one of the largest media companies in the world.

With the move, Comcast is reducing its exposure to a business that’s losing viewers and advertisers to new players like Netflix Inc. Rivals Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and Paramount Global have all taken billion-dollar writeoffs on their traditional TV businesses as they continue to invest in streaming. The new structure will set up the new company to be able to make deals of its own.

Comcast shares were up about 2% in premarket trading in New York.

A new merger-friendly administration poised to take over in Washington may be more open to letting struggling cable TV businesses combine. The new business, which will be distributed to existing Comcast shareholders, will be well capitalized and positioned for growth, Comcast executives said.

Mark Lazarus, the current chairman of NBCUniversal’s media group, overseeing TV and streaming, will become chief executive officer of the new company. Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts will have a one-third voting stake in the new company, mirroring the current arrangement at Comcast.

The cable channel spin-off “makes sense given that it’s a structurally tough business, with cord-cutting eroding over 20% of profit in the past four years,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan wrote in a note.