Comcast buys all of NBC - 30 Rockefeller Plaza will have Comcast logo

[DarthTom]

Comcast has now cemented its ability to program its cable franchise and also lands the trophy location of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It will be odd for the GE logo to go down and Comcast logo to now be in the NY skyline:

ETA: I surprised that the FCC is allowing this to happen because this give Comcast virtually monopoly control [in some markets] of local TV programming and both delivery via internet and cable of that programming.



Huffington

LOS ANGELES — Comcast is buying the rest of NBCUniversal from General Electric several years ahead of schedule to take advantage of low interest rates and what its CEO calls a "very attractive price" of $16.7 billion.
The nation's leading cable TV company also agreed to pay GE another $1.4 billion for other assets that include one of New York's best-known landmarks, NBC's headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The building also was the setting for the NBC comedy series "30 Rock," a fictional version of the broadcast network that skewered the management of both GE and Comcast before airing its final episode two weeks ago.

[Robert Maxwell]

The FCC's been asleep at the wheel for years. Media consolidation? Meh. Who cares?

[Hound of UIster]

Comcast is a terrible company.

[DarthTom]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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Meh. Who cares?

GE employees currently working at 30 Rockefeller Plaza?

BTW, do you find it interesting and 'cozy,' that President Obama is good friends with Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast, and that Michelle and Barack had dinner at Robert's Martha Vineyards home?

or

That Roberts and Comcast was one of Obama's most generous donors in the 2012 election?

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Robert D. Robot]

I guess Roberts is simply continuing to keep things cozy with whoever is sitting in the Oval Office. This is not a relationship that is good for our media.

From an article in ThinkProgress by Lee Fang (November 5, 2010):
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2010/...comcast-msnbc/

Comcast – the country’s largest provider of cable TV and broadband Internet services – has increased its political giving along with its mergers and acquisitions. CEO Brian Roberts was a co-chairman of the host committee at the 2000 Republican Convention. Comcast Cable President Stephen Burke has raised at least $200,000 for Bush’s re-election campaign. [...] Comcast’s political giving has increased along with its mergers and acquisitions. The company was a “platinum sponsor” at the 2000 GOP convention, and Roberts was a co-chairman of the host committee at the Philadelphia event. Burke was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology in 2002.

[DarthTom]

Robert D. Robot wrote:

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I guess Roberts is simply continuing to keep things cozy with whoever is sitting in the Oval Office. This is not a relationship that is good for our media.

In Philadelphia for example not only is Comcast the only cable provider but they also own through the NBC acquisition the local NBC station and the Philadelphia 76'ers.

[Squiggy]

NBC is quickly becoming irrelevant. The biggest change that will happen will be the likely addition of the Comcast logo to the top of 30 Rock...a net plus for the network.

[Mark_Nguyen]

...And suddenly the purchase of NBC by Kabletown in "30 Rock" is that much more prophetic. Even the logos are similar. Or was that an intentional jab?

Mark

[Squiggy]

Mark_Nguyen wrote:

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...And suddenly the purchase of NBC by Kabletown in "30 Rock" is that much more prophetic. Even the logos are similar. Or was that an intentional jab?

It was intentional.

[Mark_Nguyen]

Ahh, ok. Now that just makes the Sheinhardt Wig Company even more oblique as a reference..?

Mark

[bigdaddy]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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The FCC's been asleep at the wheel for years. Media consolidation? Meh. Who cares?

But don't say fuck on TV,even when being shot at or in the middle of the night.

[Guy Gardener]

It's almost like they were waiting for for 30 Rock, the sitcom, to go off the air so they wouldn't be bullied and ridiculed... Unless Kabletown is code for Comcast and this has been in the works for a couple years now?

[the G-man]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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The FCC's been asleep at the wheel for years. Media consolidation? Meh. Who cares?

Yes, and its not just the FCC. The feds have been asleep at the switch about antitrust in pretty much every industry.

That being said, I personally think a monopoly on the information dissemination is a lot worse than a monopoly on, say, cars.

[the G-man]

Guy Gardener wrote:

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It's almost like they were waiting for for 30 Rock, the sitcom, to go off the air so they wouldn't be bullied and ridiculed... Unless Kabletown is code for Comcast and this has been in the works for a couple years now?

Kabletown IS code for Comcast and this HAS been in the works for a couple of years now.

[Squiggy]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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The FCC's been asleep at the wheel for years. Media consolidation? Meh. Who cares?

The FCC can't enforce a law that hasn't existed since 1996.