NBCU COMCAST MERGER QUESTION

[trolleyk]

Could the resultant merger of NBC U and Comcast result in NBC10 relating to to new studio facilities at the Comcast Corporate Building in Center City?  They probably could get a nice price for NBC10's Bala Cynwyd property and save money.

[Sam Lit]

I sincerely doubt anyone would move WCAU TV as they enjoy the Philadelphia excise tax savings by being in Bala Cynwyd. Moving to Philadelphia means an immediate 5% loos of profits on the agregate. That's why a large number of broascast stations are in Bala Cynwyd to begin with. Besides Comcast will wind up spinning off Broadcast television media. All they really want are the cable properties.

[trolleyk]

I doubt very much that the network O & O's, NBC Network with all its divisions, and the associated cable franchises will be separated.

[DToTheJ]

FCC regulations prohibit an entity from owning both a broadcast channel/network and a cable system. A decision will have to be made soon.

[ding12]

Maybe they'll just keep a handful of stations like
WNBC - New York
KNBC - Los Angeles
WMAQ- Chicago
WRC - Washington DC
KRON - San Francisco

the sister Telemundo station in the market (dependent on what they do with Telemundo), and sell off the others, and keep a miminal cable presence (by trading cable systems) in those markets...Although in the latter 3 I think Comcast has many systems.   

WCAU could go to Hearst Argyle, that owns WBAL WGAL, and other major market stations like WCVB.   It'd give them a Mid Atlantic triangle of NBC affiliates.    WCAU is detachable and saleable.

Separating WNBC and WRC (tied to the DC news division of NBC) from the NBC network would be tougher.

[Bill_W]

according to article on front page of yesterday's Inky business section, sale could be soon  http://www.philly.com/philly/business/69635122.html

[Robnoxious]

Maybe they'll just keep a handful of stations like
WNBC - New York
KNBC - Los Angeles
WMAQ- Chicago
WRC - Washington DC
KRON - San Francisco

KRON-4 hasn't been affiliated nor owned by NBC for close to 10 years and is a comical disaster of it own outside of this Comcast/NBC merger.

The closer this merger looms the more I think it reeks harder than a bait barge. I see nothing in the interest of the public that makes this a good thing for the consumer in the long run. Thankfully, I've sworn off of cable tv years ago.

[trolleyk]

KRON-TV HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH NBC.  THEY ARE PURELY AN INDEPENDENT SAN FRANCISCO STATION.  NBC OWNS A STATION IN SAN JOSE,CA.

[WCAUTVNBC10]

As far as the NBC owned stations are concerned, once the deal goes through, they will probably be spun off into their own entity funded, sorta like the Viacom/CBS split of a few years ago. NBC is not going let their owned and operated stations just be let go completely just because of an FCC law.

[imhomerjay]

There is no regulation on the books.  The "no cable system/broadcast station" regulation hasn't been in effect in about a decade.

Whether the FCC tries to enforce a condition of a merger is one issue, but as it stands right now, there is nothing barring that kind of co-ownership.