I personally do not consider this news a good thing. The main reason is that Comcast is run by assholes that are nowhere near the center politically. Comcast has been known to consider left of center groups as the enemy and refused to allow their emailings to get to Comcast customers. From the NYT:
If it holds, the agreement would conclude weeks of hardball negotiations between G.E. and Vivendi over an alliance first forged in 2004. Resolving the issue of Vivendi’s stake is crucial to completing the G.E.-Comcast deal. But the French company took a tough stance, brandishing its option of holding an initial public offering for its stake rather than selling it back to G.E.
Under the current outlines of the agreement between G.E. and Comcast, NBC Universal would be put into a new joint venture, between the two giants. Comcast would pour billions of dollars in cash and its own cable channels for a 51 percent stake, while G.E. would hold an initial 49 percent and contribute about $12 billion in debt.
G.E., which has owned NBC for more than two decades, is expected to eventually sell its ownership interest to Comcast over the next several years.
This sale does not make me feel warm and fuzzy. Not by a longshot.
