PHILADELPHIA — Comcast, which for years has yearned for a big entertainment division that could produce blockbuster movies and popular cable-TV shows, reached a broad agreement Thursday to merge its cable networks with NBC Universal, one of the nation’s storied TV and movie studios.
NBC Universal released the “Fast and Furious” movies and “Brokeback Mountain”; owns cable-TV networks USA and Bravo; produces award-winning TV shows “The Office” and “30 Rock”; and operates several amusement parks.
Comcast would own 51 percent of the new private corporate entity, which would be valued at $35 billion, according to sources within Comcast who were not authorized to speak on the record. General Electric would own 49 percent. GE, whose financial and manufacturing divisions were battered in the recession, owns 80 percent of NBC Universal, and French company Vivendi SA owns the remaining stake. The Philadelphia Inquirer
