Comcast isn't simply becoming the nation's most powerful media and entertainment giant, with assets in broadcast and cable TV, movies, the Internet and theme parks.
The company is becoming television's dominant newscaster, with enormous influence on civic life.
Comcast will control the No. 1 evening newscast (The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams), morning newscast (The Today Show), and Sunday talk show (Meet the Press). On cable, CNBC is the leading source of business news, while MSNBC focuses on politics.
NBC's national news operations generated about $1.8 billion in revenue in 2009, with 60% coming from cable, estimates the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism.
NBC also is a power in local news. It owns 25 NBC and Telemundo stations, which collectively reach 36% of all households. Other companies own 234 NBC affiliates. (Gannett, parent of USA TODAY, is a major owner of NBC affiliates.) Newscasts generate nearly 45% of the ad sales at a typical TV station.
"Only NBC has been able to put together that combination" of news assets, says Tom Wolzien, a former NBC News executive who is now an industry consultant. "That's the reason its network peers — ABC and CBS — have seen steady decline (in news), and NBC has been able to maintain its organization."
What will Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Chief Operating Officer Stephen Burke, who will become CEO of NBC Universal, do with their new clout? It's a mystery. The executives have little experience in news; the company owns a few local cable news channels, including New England Cable News.
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