Watching the Wheels Come Off the Celebrity-Journalists

The New York Post reported some interesting news. Comcast saw the ratings book for the last three months and decided it was time to cut bait. But the executives, being the product of wokeness, could not single cut any one particular division.

 

So they cut CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel, all of which have niche audiences, but don’t have inordinately high revenue streams.

But the big loser is MSNBC, which was created by Microsoft and NBC in 1996 to leverage the growing power of the internet by launching a cable news channel with a strong online presence. 

Over the years, the mission statement was abandoned and MSNBC became a radical, left-wing, hate-mongering machine, using NBC’s massive resources.

Meanwhile, NBC News, NBC Sports, Telemundo, streaming service Peacock and Bravo will remain under the NBC Universal umbrella.

Now, panic is setting in to the celebrities who call themselves journalists because they may be cut off from the assets of NBC News. Then they would have to work for a living.

And if these brands are all losing money now, how will SpinCo, the newly-created parent company, make money in the future? Will their investors at SpinCo make a profit?

The Comcast executives are making that claim, but there really is no basis to blindly accept that as gospel. There is, after all, no track record anyone can point at to make it true.

Presently, all these companies reside at or near 30 Rockefeller Center, between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas, and between West 49th and West 50th Streets in the heart of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. They probably will be relocated elsewhere in the City. And MSNBC will probably be forced to change its name. And the same for CNBC.

Comcast expects the spin-offs and parent of all the brands to close in about one year (ie, before the end of 2025), contingent on obtaining final approval from Comcast's board of directors as well as “satisfactory completion of SpinCo financing, receipt of tax opinions and receipt of any regulatory approvals,” the company said.

So hang on, friends. It WILL BE a wild ride. Most acquisitions are.

But this time, the celebrity-journalists will be telling their tale of woe. For all the world to see and hear nightly.

With their own unique way of “story-telling”.