Comcast Buys NBC from GE !

[BigSkyFreeper]

Sorry about that. Forgot about the WSJ subscrption. If you want to read the full story, go to Google News. You’ll find it there.

No problem.  I"ve heard he's dumping his news from Google soon too.

[BigSkyFreeper]

We do, I was expressing a personal opinion.

[numberonepal]

Depending on their future actions, I might get to start buying GE products again. :-)

GE is the problem. NBC was a symptom of the problem. Make no mistake the folks that run GE are old world commies and long for the day that we are all "equal".

[Landru]

"If Comcast starts jacking up the price of the GE/Universal channels, I hope programmers like Dish Network tell them “Hell no” and dump them all."

Precisely what happened with Verses when CC tried roughing up DircTV. I LMAO hearing that, then, promptly programmed out ol' Verses. LOL

[ConservativeMind]

Great picture!

[BigSkyFreeper]

GE is the problem. NBC was a symptom of the problem. Make no mistake the folks that run GE are old world commies and long for the day that we are all "equal".

Ever since Jack Welch retired, things haven't been the same at GE when that punk Jeffery Immelt took over the brand.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Exactly. I’m in favor of PAYING for what I WANT. If I want to program out Versus, I can drop payment on it and it gets removed from my lineup and my bill goes down and Dish Network is still getting money from me.

[Landru]

"Exactly. I’m in favor of PAYING for what I WANT."

We're batting 1.000. LOL

"If I want to program out Versus, I can drop payment on it and it gets removed from my lineup and my bill goes down and Dish Network is still getting money from me."

That's just the thing, say one programs out MSNBC.
It means nothing to MSNBC since our carrier pays them a fee from OUR subscription fees. LOL

I'll tell you it drives me nuts to think I am supporting the likes of Chrissy & Olberdork.

IF you follow poster abb's Dinosaur Media DeathWatch threads? You already know there'll be a LOT more choice available, soon.

Already available with Hulu (sp?) etc etc via the Internet; so, cable *&* satellite carriers had better do something if they intend on surviving, never mind competing.

[monocle]

Comcast was exceptionally slow in bring Fox News in my area. Comcast being in the entertainment industry is incurably infected with the socialist virus.

[Abathar]

I flipped on the Weather Channel this morning to catch the radar and Al Roker had just received the news, along with Stephanie Abrams. Both had a very interesting look on their faces when they announced that they now were owned by Comcast.

Neither looked happy about it, lets put it that way.

[garyb]

Does anyone know what GE paid for NBC in the first place and the sales price now?

The Milwaukee Sentinental reported 6.28B in 1986.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19860214&id=Y2oWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ghIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2736,4196616

Wikipedia reports: "General Electric re-acquires RCA, primarily for the NBC television network. Bertelsmann and Thomson acquire the bulk of the remainder. Thomson would also acquire General Electric's consumer electronics division."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_timeline

My recollection is that GE sold off pieces of RCA including the above, for more than they paid for RCA. Which is to say that the parts of RCA were worth more than the whole of RCA. Other pieces were Banquet food group, and Hertz. (That's just my recollection, it may be that some of those groups had been spun off before the acquisition) Sorry, slept since then.

Essentially GE only kept NBC and the satellite division, but after the spin off, GE later sold off the satcom division as well. Essentially got NBC for less than zero.

[garyb]

Recollection worked better than I thought.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-72499893.html (March 2001)
STAMFORD, CONN. — General Electric Co. will sell its satellite unit to a Luxembourg company for $5 billion in cash and stock, creating a satellite services provider with a global reach, the companies announced Wednesday. Societe Europeenne des Satellites SA will provide GE ...

NBC LANDMARKS http://ketupa.net/nbc2.htm

1985 GE sells Hertz to UAL for US$587m

1986 RCA-Victor (RCA's music arm) sold to Bertelsmann

1987 Thomson buys RCA consumer electronics operations

1988 NBC radio stations sold to Infinity, Westwood and Group W,

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So, It's looking pretty good that the net cost to GE for NBC was zero (or close to it)

[FrogMom]

Is this possibly because Plugs Biden recently hinted that the next gov takeover will be media?

[Colofornian]

Nothing will change

Doubt that. Comcast brings more porn to bear on the satellite/cable industry than its competitors.

Look for that to "trickle down."