GE and Vivendi agree on terms that’ll allow a Comcast deal to go forward. How much is Vivendi’s 20% stake in NBC Universal? $5.8 billion. At least that’s the number the water company agreed on with General Electric. GE, which owns 80% of the company, is in the midst of building a 50/50 joint venture with media giant wannabe Comcast. The deal clears the way for that to happen. source
By the end of the week, it’s likely that GE and Comcast will have agreed on a deal to give most of NBC Universal to the cable company. Owning a chunk of the content pie is something that Comcast has been angling for – most famously, they tried making a deal for Disney back in the day. But is it good for consumers? Vote above.source
ISPs who can’t cap bandwidth may charge for traffic. With net neutrality looking more and more likely by the day, we may find ourselves returning to the days of paying for traffic based on usage. Consumers don’t want it, but companies like Time Warner and Comcast say that the cost of bandwidth, mixed with heavy usage of BitTorrent or popular video sites, may force it. We think that it’s probably going to happen, simply because they can’t fight the tide of Hulu forever. source
Comcast made a $54 billion bid for Disney out of the blue. Everyone laughed at them because it was so unexpected. Their shareholders didn’t like it. source
Comcast has spent years saving up massive amounts of cash in their coffers. They’re glancing around. Investors are concerned they may do a repeat. source