Comcast is finally doing what Wall Street has been asking for years: breaking itself in two.
The company announced it’s splitting into Comcast (broadband and wireless) and NBCUniversal (TV networks, Peacock, Universal Studios, theme parks). This comes after it already spun out cable channels like CNBC and MS.NOW into a company called Versant earlier this year.
The whole thing is a quiet admission that the “content plus pipes” idea never really worked.
Remember when AT&T bought Time Warner? Or when AOL bought Time Warner in the 2000s? Same playbook every time: own the pipes AND the content, somehow make the combo worth more than either alone. It never worked for anyone else. Comcast held it together for 15 years — longer than most — but the answer to “why do you own a media company and an infrastructure company?” was always vague.
CEO Brian Roberts finally listened to investors. Comcast’s stock has been stuck for years. The broadband business was the real moneymaker all along. Problem is, that business is now facing real competition from T-Mobile and Verizon’s fixed wireless, plus Starlink. Comcast lost 700,000 broadband subscribers last year.
The new Comcast will focus on connectivity. NBCUniversal gets the entertainment assets and a CEO in Mike Cavanagh. Whether either side ends up sold off remains to be seen — executives say no, but the structure makes future deals a lot easier.
The split should take about a year. Shareholders will own shares in both companies. And the media industry will keep watching to see if this time, the unbundling actually works.
