NBCU: CEOs Weigh in

A full 24 hour news cycle has passed since unofficial sources told Broadcasting & Cable that Comcast and General Electric were talking about a deal to restructure the ownership of NBC Universal.Now its time for the CEOs to weigh in on the saga. General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt, speaking in India, confirmed there are discussions and a possible IPO for NBC Universal. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes made his company’s disinterest official today. He told a crowd at the Newseum in Washington that there are no plans to challenge Comcast for the NBC U kaboodl

“We simply believe GE is tired of owning content and is looking to monetize a non-core asset at a time when the future of media assets appears less certain than at anytime in the past decade. We have a hard time believing any of the NBCU employees will be excited to be owned by a cable company. In addition, we do not believe Comcast brings content/programming management expertise that will improve NBCU’s performance.

Greenfield thinks Comcast is looking to prevent itself from becoming a dumb pipe, “in a world where any consumer can shoot HD quality video with a device that fits in the palm of your hand (flip cam), edit it for free and distribute it for free globally, Comcast’s control of your video viewing life is dissipating.”