Comcast Set to Get NBC: How It Could Affect Notre Dame Hire

by srr50 on Dec 1, 2009 10:06 AM CST in Texas Longhorns and Other Football

GE has reached an agreement with its partners and is now ready to sell NBC and its cable channels to Comcast for about $30 Billion.

The deal gives Comcast, the the largest U.S. cable TV provider, more venues and more revenue streams to build a sports brand to compete against the Mother Ship, ESPN.

Comcast President Jeff Shell has gone on record as wanting to build a broadcast entity that could combine distribution and programming along the lines of ESPN. Comcast already owns the Versus and Golf Networks, as well as several regional channels. NBC would bring its cable channels to the new company.

Comcast likes the dual revenue stream template that ESPN has laid out, where the WWL gets revenue from advertising as well as cable subscriptions. It's why ESPN has deep enough pockets to go after and get the BCS championship series, and Comcast apparently thinks there is room for another sports network in the market.

NBC has the Olympics, NFL football and of course their Notre Dame contract, which runs through 2015. Comcast has already indicated that they will use the multiple channels to air the same event, perhaps letting viewers see different camera angles on different channels.

If Notre Dame makes the right hire, they will be in prime position to renegotiate a contract more in line with what the SEC and Big 10 members are getting from their lucrative deals. Whoever Notre Dame hires should be able to negotiate with the school to ease up on its admission restrictions in the near future.

If Comcast decides to get into the sports programming business they will need new product. BCS conferences such as the Big 12, ACC and Pac 10 could be the beneficiaries of such a network, since they will be looking for broadcast partners in the near future. ESPN is so heavily invested in the SEC for the next 15 years, that the timing couldn't be better for a new bidder to come on the scene.

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I like the move, as I have always enjoyed our broadcasts on Versus.

It would be nice to see the WWL have to worry a little, though I’m not sure they will be forced to worry (or change) for quite a while.

by uthookem on Dec 1, 2009 10:15 AM CST reply actions

But the real question is, how will this affect the GE/NBC jokes on 30 rock?

by Lilia B. on Dec 1, 2009 10:28 AM CST reply actions

As long as it doesn’t take away from those legendary 11 AM Fox Sports Southwest telecasts.

by Buddy Garrity on Dec 1, 2009 10:36 AM CST reply actions

I heard a great NPR Planet Money discussion about this merger. Basically, it boiled down to people asking why on earth anyone would want NBC, and an analyst, discussing the importance of distribution over content noted that you can copy and freely distribute content in 30 secs, it takes $100 billion dollars and decades to build a good distribution network.

by BatesHorn on Dec 1, 2009 11:14 AM CST reply actions

You lost me at NPR….

by UT_BKC on Dec 1, 2009 1:06 PM CST reply actions

Does this mean I’ll be able to get Versus on Directv again?

by Confused and dazed on Dec 1, 2009 1:11 PM CST reply actions

It’d be nice to have competition for the B12 TV package.

by Bob in Houston on Dec 1, 2009 1:59 PM CST reply actions

This article is much like a deeply coded Peyton Manning commercial. Read the article a couple of x, you’ll “get it”.

by indoor wind chimes & Savage Garden on Dec 1, 2009 4:34 PM CST reply actions

It is understandable that a network would want to acquire rights to Big XII and/or Pac 10 Football, but it’s hard to imagine that ACC Football would command many TV sets. For that matter, outside of USC and possibly Cal, how many TV sets would Pac 10 FB command?

Is it unreasonable to think that Big XII CFB would be more attractive than either ACC or PAC 10? Of course, ACC BB is a big deal.

by java on Dec 1, 2009 10:10 PM CST reply actions