Comcast moves closer to creating a content-and-distribution behemoth

IT SEEMED for a while as though the media business had dispensed with swagger. As the markets push their companies around, moguls such as Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation have taken to complaining about the power of Google. A new book, “The Curse of the Mogul”, tries to bury such figures once and for all. But executives at Comcast, a big American cable operator, seem not to have read it. Reports this week suggested that the company was close to a deal to acquire a majority stake in NBC Universal, a television and film outfit. The combination would rival Disney as the world’s biggest media firm.

Ownership of NBC Universal is split between GE (which holds 80%) and Vivendi, a French conglomerate. Comcast would commit cash and merge its modest collection of cable channels, which include E! and the Golf Channel, with NBC Universal’s much more impressive roster. It would end up with 51% of the resulting entity. GE would end up with 49% and would probably exit gradually over the next few years. The deal depends in part on Vivendi agreeing to sell its stake. …

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