The cable giant on Wednesday said that it was planning to officially move forward with its proposed split, which will see MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Syfy, USA, Oxygen, Golf Channel, Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes spun out into their own company, which will be led by Mark Lazarus.
But the deal brings with it a slew of complications, and executives seem to have few answers to them as of now. What happens after the split is complete could reshape the channels, and the TV industry as a whole.
Nowhere are the questions more acute than in Comcast’s cable news channels MSNBC and CNBC. An MSNBC source described the mood at the network as “depressed,” while a CNBC source described the mood as “annoyed, but probably fine.”
It’s a dynamic that makes sense. MSNBC has benefitted enormously by its close ties to NBC News, with its own talent gaining broadcast exposure, and many NBC anchors also filling time on the cable channel. MSNBC has relied on the vast reporting capabilities of NBC News, which it has supplemented with its own more opinion-driven programming.
CNBC, meanwhile, has long operated with a high degree of autonomy. Its executive offices, newsroom, and studios are in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (it has satellite studios at The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq), and it has only been since Cesar Conde took over the NBCUniversal News Group in 2020 that CNBC resources had begun to be integrated with the larger news operation.
Staffers there are uncertain of what is to come (don’t expect discounted theme park vacations anymore), but are more confident in their ability to execute outside of the larger NBCU enterprise. CNBC began reporting to Lazarus yesterday, getting a head start on the new structure.
Lazarus on Wednesday met with top MSNBC talent, joined by MSNBC president Rashida Jones, according to a source familiar with the company. Lazarus was upbeat, but acknowledged the complexities and uncertainties of the deal, some of which will cut very close to MSNBC’s identity.
Consider: Will the channel continue to be called MSNBC? Will it still be able to use the Peacock emblem? Will the channel cut a financial agreement with NBC News to continue using its reporting? Or will it pursue other options? They are big questions without clear answers, and at MSNBC in particular the devil will be in the details.
The new SpinCo will have plenty of entertainment, with USA, E!, Oxygen and Syfy all in the space to varying degrees. NBCU was in the process of spinning up more scripted fare on USA when the deal was announced.
But there is no question that in recent years, the bulk of NBCU's entertainment investments have gone to Peacock, the NBC broadcast network, and to a lesser extent Bravo, with the cable channels doing what they could with fewer resources.
Will the new structure allow them to make more entertainment investments? Possibly. It could also allow them to be buyers from more producers, giving them optionality. The standalone company could also presumably cut its own streaming deals, letting it license its own entertainment to other streaming platforms. But cable is just not the home of entertainment anymore, as NBCU's own actions demonstrate. Suits was a hit on USA, but it became a phenomenon on Netflix. The company's upcoming spinoff, however, will live on NBC and Peacock, leaving USA in the lurch.
A quirk in the deal: NBCU is keeping one, lone, cable channel: Bravo.
It makes sense, Bravo has forged without question the strongest brand in the company's cable portfolio, with its reality shows not only generating substantial TV viewership, but also viewership on Peacock. If any brand were to survive the shift to streaming in the company, Bravo would be it.
But the deal raises questions bout how long Bravo the cable channel will survive.
While Bravo will have the NBC network to help it retain carriage (more on that below), it will be left without its cable channel siblings in the larger portfolio (putting aside the Telemundo channels, with that business remaining intact).