There was a time when Comcast was known primarily as a cable provider.
Well they can now add media conglomerate to that list, while they skip down the street all the way to the bank to make those deposits.
Disney had better watch out!
Executives at Comcast began courting a merger between itself and NBC Universal, creating a $30 billion dollar behemoth. This was during the 2009 financial crisis.
Remember folks, fortunes are made in recessions. *Cough, cough.* Ahem, like the one we are in now.
By 2011, regulators granted Comcast permission to buy NBC, with a 51% stake in the company and the option of gaining the controlling interest from GE Capital in 2013 in order to sweep the pool.
Disney and Comcast are now playing in the same media juggernaut sandlot. Capitalism at its finest.
Comcast, the No. 1 provider of video and residential Internet service in the United States, already had about 23 million subscribers at the time of the deal.
Comcast now has ownership of tons of cable channels and movies, as well as the rights to those shows; assets that include NBC broadcast stations, cable channels like Bravo, USA and E!, the Universal movie studio as well as theme parks among other assets.
Here are some of the big brands it owns.
NBC Universal Television
NBC is home and resting place to some of the biggest shows on television.
The most commercially successful television show of all time is also included in their list of favorites; Seinfeld, the show about nothing. However, they lost streaming rights in a $500 million bidding war with Netflix and then again to HBO.
Regardless, the most streamed shows on Netflix were The Office, Friends, and Parks and Recreation, Netflix will have none of these shows in 2020, but NBC owns control of all except Friends.
The Emmy contender This is Us is also on its rooster along with a catalog that is comprised of a wide range of classic sitcoms, reboots of classic sitcoms, new original shows, and a library of films from Universal Pictures.
Universal Pictures
It is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States.
In March 2013, Comcast bought the remaining 49% of NBC Universal for $16.7 billion.
It’s film library includes Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, and the multi-billion dollar, box-office record breaker The Fast and the Furious Franchise. I can hear the cash register now. Cha-ching.
Universal Parks & Resorts
As they are always trying to give Disney a run for their money, Comcast also owns the Universal theme parks.
With locations spanning across the globe: Orlando, FL, Singapore, Japan, and Hollywood.
In 2017, approximately 49,458,000 guests visited Universal Studios theme parks, making it the third-largest amusement park operator in the world. Its major competitors are only Disney and Six Flags.
To put this in perspective, the country of Canada has a total population of 35,000,000. That means every year, the equivalent of entire the population of Canada descends down to visit their theme parks annually.
In addition, they also own the rights to display characters and images at their parks such as The Transformers, Chucky, and others.
I got up close and personal with them when I went to Universal Studios in Orlando. No doubt about it. Comcast is making a mint.
E! Entertainment Television
Comcast now owns shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and E! News.
As of January 2016, E! is available to 92.4 million households in the United States.
CNBC
The network acquired its main competitor, the Financial News Network, a move which expanded both its distribution and its workforce.
Cablevision subsequently sold its stake to NBC, giving NBC sole ownership.
As of February 2015, CNBC is available to approximately 93,623,000 pay television households (80.4% of households with television) in the United States.
In 2007, the network was ranked as the 19th most valuable cable channel in the United States, worth roughly $4 billion.
CNBC is the world leader in business news and real-time financial market coverage.
The rest of Comcast
It has even more major brands in its portfolio, but you get the idea. Comcast is making money hand over fist. If you are a cable provider guppy, then watch out, because Comcast is the shark.