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MEDIA GIANT PLANS TO SEPARATE NBCUNIVERSAL AND SKY FROM CABLE AND BROADBAND BUSINESS; DEAL TO CLOSE BY MID-2027 |
Just 15 years after taking full control of NBCUniversal, Comcast has announced it will separate it along with Sky Media from its cable and broadband holdings.
The split into two public companies, announced Monday, comes a few months after Comcast spun off most of NBCU's cable TV network portfolio into a stand-alone company, Versant Media. It also follows Comcast's unsuccessful bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, which ultimately landed at Paramount in a pending merger.
The tax-free split should be completed in about a year, executives estimated. Long-stagnant shares of Comcast surged on the news amid speculation of future M&A deals. Co-CEO Brian Roberts sought to downplay the notion that execs were seeking a dealmaking catalyst, though he acknowledged the landscape of media and technology has changed significantly in recent years.
While Comcast has been perhaps the most successful example of distribution and content businesses successfully co-existing under one corporate roof, the blend of assets has historically been problematic, as AT&T discovered when it owned Time Warner. >>>"A Very Exciting Day"
Related:
Comcast Split Is “Absolutely Not” A Prelude To M&A Spree, Brian Roberts Insists
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Deadline Exclusives & Originals
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'Toy' Keeps Crown - Toy Story 5 reigned supreme in its second weekend at the box office with a $70M weekend. The Disney/Pixar pic’s worldwide cume is now $585M. Finishing a distant second was Warner Bros/DC Studios’ Supergirl, which managed only a $38M domestic opening. >>>Tricky Date?
Senior Nexstar Exec Talks Tegna - Nexstar Media Group COO Mike Biard did not hesitate when asked if he had any second thoughts about the company’s decision to declare its $6.2 billion merger with Tegna closed mere minutes after the FCC approved the deal. “Not at all,” he told Deadline. >>>Read The Interview
'Exiles' Finds A Home - S.W.A.T. Exiles will launch in the fall. The spinoff will premiere September 25 on Starz after the series’ producer and distributor Sony Pictures Television closed a deal with the pay-TV network for the U.S. rights to the action drama. >>>Sold Worldwide
Sexual Harassment FOIA - The BBC has been investigating a handful of employees over sexual harassment allegations, as the British national broadcaster looks to enforce its zero-tolerance approach to misconduct. Deadline can reveal that the BBC had five sexual harassment disciplinary cases open as recently as the end of March. >>>Getting Fired For Wrongdoing Not Likely
From 'SNL' To Off Broadway - Chloe Troast, a cast member of the 2023-2024 season of Saturday Night Live, will write and star in a new theatrical experience titled Pepper Slit: Live in Her Living Room, directed by Sam Blumenfeld. The four-week limited engagement will be staged at the intimate East Village Basement theater. >>>Previews Begin July 21
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“Curb In Costume”: How President Obama Persuaded Larry David To Return To TV With HBO’s ‘Life, Larry And The Pursuit Of Unhappiness’ |
Imagine, for a second, that Thomas Jefferson didn’t write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. Larry David can.
David, dressed in layered woolens and cravats, kicks off his new HBO comedy series Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness by imagining Robert R. Livingston, one of the other founding fathers, wrote the first draft.
The show, produced by President Barack Obama and his Higher Ground banner, emerged after Obama called his golfing buddy and asked whether he’d be interested in making a show to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. David, a history major, was tickled by the idea.
“We jokingly call it 'Curb in costume,'” executive producer Jeff Schaffer, David’s longtime Curb Your Enthusiasm partner, told Deadline. >>>Q&A
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Exclusive
Tim Robbins and Sissy Spacek are set to join the Universal pic The Catch starring Emma Stone and Chris Pine. Ashley Padilla and Druski also recently joined the cast. Dave McCary will direct the film, which is set to bow on May 21, 2027.
Exclusive
Imani Lewis (First Kill) and Tanya Wright (Orange Is the New Black) have signed on to star in Killa, a horror-drama that will mark the feature filmmaking debut of writer-director Laci Dent.
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BY THE NUMBERS
150+ - Number of international sales, promotion and distribution companies for the inaugural edition of TIFF: The Market
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MORE NEWS
🤖 As A24 embarks on its new partnership with Google AI's DeepMind, many cinephiles have taken issue with the collaboration. Sophia Shin, an A24 spokesperson, explained, “Our relationship with our audience is something we don’t take for granted. This partnership exists because we want to dictate what tools get built for artists, and so they have a voice in shaping them."
🤠 Mel Brooks has turned 100 years old and the American Film Institute has decided to officially change the order of their signature AFI’s “100 Years…100 Laughs” list, thereby in what AFI terms as an “honorary” reorganization of the list, moving Brooks’ 1974 western spoof Blazing Saddles from 6th place to 1st and proclaiming it “the funniest film of all time.”
🏆 Bill Maher received the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize on Sunday. While a number of artists and performers have canceled shows at the center following Trump’s takeover, Maher said that he had no hesitation about accepting the honor. “He’s president. He’s a caretaker. He’s an employee right now. The country endures. This endures. Comedy endures."
⛈️ Despite being one of only a few artists not to pull out of Freedom 250, the White House canceled Vanilla Ice's set at the last minute, citing “inclement weather.”
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OBITUARIES
🕯️ Doug Goldstein, the former longtime manager of Guns N’ Roses, who saw the hard rock group through the heights of commercial success and chaotic periods of rock ‘n’ roll excess, has died. He was 65. 🕯️ Luis de la Rosa, a rising Mexican animator whose credits include Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and My Little Pony: The Movie, died Wednesday in an accident while attending the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. He was 34. 🕯️ K. Bhagyaraj, the Indian filmmaker and actor who held a central place in Tamil-language cinema, died in Chennai following a heart attack. He was 73. 🕯️ Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries
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ON THE RADAR
Mon - Wimbledon begins; Clive Davis’ funeral in NYC
Wed - U.S. vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina World Cup game
Sat - Independence Day
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