Not sure how a story like this snuck under the radar on Friday, but the WSJ reports that Comcast and NBC are in the early stages of a buyout offer -- Comcast's plan is to control 51 percent of a new joint venture with current NBC owner GE. Needless to say, that would be a massive content industry shakeup, and it would bring over two dozen networks and stations under Comcast's control, from E! to NBC itself, as well as the Universal movie studio. Sure brings that whole
TV Everywhere plan into sharp relief, doesn't it? Talks are said to be far apart and contigent on Comcast maintaining its credit rating by putting as little cash upfront as possible, but big companies like this don't poke around lightly -- we'll see how this one turns out.
posted Oct 5th 2009 9:02PM
Is Comcast really all that bad? I know it has one of the lowest customer service ratings, so how this turns out for the consumer depends upon Comcast.
1) If Comcast is as evil as many think it is, this could turn out to be a REALLY, REALLY bad thing.
2) If Comcast doesn't suck as much as many think it does, I think there will be a negligible impact on the consumer.
Once again, I haven't researched enough to give an honest opinion on Comcast, but hopefully they don't mess everything up
Comcast needs to DIAF.
Yes, Comcast SUCKS.
Unfortunately, they have their slimy tentacles all over everything and it's extremely difficult to get away from them.
Comcast really is that bad. I've been on the phone with CS nearly every week, because they keep changing what they're charging me, and because they keep messing with my internet speed. I get on the phone, they jack me up to my promised speed (22mbps), jack up my bill for the 'service upgrade' (I was already paying for that speed, but not according to their almighty computer), and 2 days later my speed is back to 11. The bill stays higher.
And this is one of my better experiences with them.
Yes, they are really that bad. I can't recall reading about a single pro-customer thing they have done, but I can think of half a dozen big things off the top of my head that were terrible for customers. (Trying to buy Hulu to turn it into a pay site, Fighting net neutrality, torrent throttling, bandwidth caps, annoying ads, terrible customer service, heavily re-compressed HDTV)
Generally, anything that Comcast touches can be safely deemed a lost cause.
Well, they stifle streaming video whenever they get the chance, such as imposing bandwidth caps and fees to prevent the internet from taking over their cable business or suing Fiber Optic companies that try to lay cables in their markets.
NBC has a lot of problems, but they have been successful in venturing into the internet. They have a lot of shows available online through hulu, and they are up on the Youtube market with Andy Samberg, etc. By adding a lot of shows that are well suited to the internet conversion like talk shows, they have secured a piece of the future.
Now, imagine the biggest enemy of the future of Television, Comcast, buying out the Network that is slowly making inroads for video over the internet and you can see why this is a devastating possibility.
IF the purchase were to go thru......
The Comcast enduser would not notice any difference and quite frankly,
the operation would operate totally transparent from the cable side.
i'm interning at nbc burbank right now, and from all the talks it makes sense...
right now cable companies have to pay X amount of dollars for each customer they have that gets the content.
if comcast owns nbc, right there is a LOT of overhead that is gone, they now own the programming and dont have to pay themselves to broadcasting it... they already have the infrastructure to broadcast to households.
the real question is do they really have the ridiculous amount of CASH to buy the network, having the assets and money on paper is one thing, but to actually have the money to give out immediately is another thing.
It's much worse than you think.
According to an LA Times piece, it may be that Comcast is trying to rein in the free videos on Hulu. Since about 1/3rd of Hulu is controlled by NBC, it might be that Comcast is trying to prevent people from being able to watch first-run shows - particularly cable broadcasts like the Colbert Report - online for free.
There is a reason why Comcast is interested in NBC, and it's about controlling how, what and where you can get content.
Yes they are. I need to call up tomorrow and find out why they downgraded my internet. Seriously. I now have one level from the bottom of the barrel internet and its not even good enough to use hulu. If I had the option I would drop their ass in a hot second.
I like how all big companies are buying smaller companies. Then comes Microsoft and Google and buy everything.
Service providers like Comcast and its executives should be prevented by law from buying and owning controlling stakes in any networks, because as a whole, content, quality, and customer satisfaction are not at the top of their list. Power and greed are.
Not to mention, these types of moves are inherently monopolistic. I say this because their controlling stake would give them too much control in the industry on a variety of levels (including content, which is disturbing to think about) and will certainly affect other service providers (like Verizon) who will want to (and will have to, based on customer demand) run Comcast's newly owned networks; Verizon will undoubtedly be charged for it and their customers will fit the bill.
David Z., how about the part where their cable division keeps raising prices and removing channels from the basic line-up so that you now have to rent a box to get channels that were once available straight through the cable antenna? That made me dump Comcast Cable. The "requirement" of the rental box but we still pay extended basic rates that keep going up began to piss me off. I decided not to look into their internet service and it doesn't sound any better than their cable service from all the complaints I've read. Comcast is run by nothing but greedy bastards. They even locked up a basic local channel that should be free into their box requirement, how the hell did they get away with locking up a basic FREE channel?
Doesn't NBC own Hulu? If so, this news sucks as Comcast will surely fuck it up.
I really hope this doesn't happen. Comcast will just screw it up like they did TechTV.
EXACTLY! I don't even know what G4 is anymore, just 1.5 hours of games, 22.5 hours of pure BULL.
You just sent an ice cold shiver down my spine.
Or maybe NBC will fix comcast?
Chris to the rescue!
What a horrible mess this would be if it happend, NBC already has CEO problems, he seems to think peopel dont care if stuff is in HD or not what BS, and Comcast is just known for bulling BS to with there bandwidth caps on internet.
Jacks going to be stuck with his microwaves...
A 30 Rock reference that obscure gets you an uprank, dear sir.
+1 and hell, I love you now. Enjoy your new heart too
Say hello to premiums to catch NBC Uni shows on the internet. Comcast's motto these days is to increase their price packages and strip out features. Can't wait to see how it gets applied to them owning half of basic cable.
It starting to become apparent, what Comcast's end-game is here. They want to create their own sandboxed-version of the Internet. In other words, if it's something that can be seen on Comcast's cable television service, then they only want you to be able to see it on the Internet through Comcast's Internet service. For example, I would bet that pretty quickly, one of the changes that would occur would be Hulu changes to a different type of site. Anyone from any ISP can view clips and commercials...but if you want to watch the whole show, you need to be a Comcast subscriber.
I'm really not sure why we even have monopoly laws in this country, because it's clear that they don't matter at all. Over the last decade, between the RIAA, MPAA, and Comcast, our government has proven that if you have enough money and people in Washington, dreams really can come true. Only in this case, Comcast's dream is America's nightmare.
This country is headed towards an intellectual property collision course. There's a reason that so many people pirate content, and it's not because it is free. (if that were the case, why do so many people download the torrent version of free shows they could watch on over-the-air broadcast television?) The rules are becoming so over-bearing, so confusion, and so one-sided that people are lashing out.
confusion = confusing. I'd edit that, if only Engadget would let me...
That would also mess up the story line of 30 rock! And not to mention, comcast isnt known for their reliability.....i would go nuclear if NBC caved due to poor management...
First thing I thought of when hearing this was 30 Rock.
As long as it doesn't completely screw up the shows, I'm fine... I need my Office...
You're fine with a huge content creator being purchased by an even larger content service provider?
Is it safe to assume that you'd be fine with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile all merging into one mega company called "American Wireless"? I suppose they'd offer competitive prices based on the simply goodness and kindness in their hearts?
Perhaps you should start caring just a little bit more...
maybe they will fix the mess that is MSNBC
didn't expect a comment like that out of someone with an anti-obama avatar. shocked I am
MSNBC, Fox News; It's all the same bias "news" that bends all their stories to favor themselves. I'll stick with PBS, thank you very much.
@wmurch3
not a big fan of Fox either if that makes you feel better.
Yeah PBS doesn't have an agenda. I bet you think NPR is fair and balanced right?
I think Conan O'Brien mentioned this on his show on like Wednesday. Engadget, when you're this behind on a story, just pretend you didn't care, it looks better that way.
It was brought up on this site last week as well. Maybe you should pay attention sir.
Please, NO. Comcast is AWFUL.
I dont know much about law and regulations, but that sounds like a bit of a monopoly. Would they still broadcast over the air, charge extra to companies like Charter, Cox, Warner and Verizon? I dont see the FCC letting this go through, or at least I certainly hope they dont.
I agree completely, especially with this new FCC guy, I can't see this going through smoothly or even go through at all.
I was wondering how this is viewed as allowable also. It does seem ripe for all kinds of anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices.
Yes, I'm sure the powers that be in Washington will look out for us. After all, when Disney came knocking and asked for a huge extension in copyright duration, our representatives said to them, "Nay, good sirs, this is not in the best interest of the American citizen!"
Wake the eff up. Comcast has as much money as they please. If someone in Washington raises a flag on this one, they'll just start sending bags of money their way until the problem is resolved.
Personally, I hope that the movie studios, music studios, content providers, and wireless providers all merge into one super company. That way we'll have one target to shoot against, and once they're dead, we can finally start pushing innovation and true capitalism again (as opposed to the status-quo and corporatism we're stuck with now).
what does this mean about 30 Rock?
I saw a Comcast billboard that simply said "We're not going anywhere." It put a rather ominous feeling in my mind as if they were declaring a dictatorship. Which on some level they kinda are.
I really don't want a service provider owning a content provider. There's too much power in that combination. Although it certainly didn't work for Time Warner.
Fuck that; I'd rather have Microsoft, Halliburton, Blackwater, Best Buy, Ebay, or Live Nation over Comcast.
"Not sure how a story like this snuck under the radar on Friday, but the WSJ reports that Comcast and NBC are in the early stages of a buyout offer "
What cave were you stuck in? This buyout was being talked about on TV and all over that interweb thing, well, everywhere 'cept engadget! :-)
I hate mega-mergers... all it means is mega-layoffs.
comcast is gunnin for HULU. Much of hulu's programming comes from NBC and its affiliates such as scifi and usa. Comcast just wants to see HULU crash and burn so they can have a monopoly over all forms of broadcast
Yeah, it's probably the first thing they're going to try and change to go their way. Probably will integrate premium services into it.