Corp. opened its latest earnings call with a surprise announcement: The Brian Roberts-run media giant was weighing whether to spin out its cable TV channels into a separate “well-capitalized company” that “would position them to take advantage of opportunities in the changing media landscape.”But one thing became clear: Wall Street seemed to like it. Comcast shares surged when the market opened, and closed up 4 percent on an otherwise down day for Wall Street.
Perhaps most significantly, a spinoff company could become a land of misfit networks, a place where unwanted cable channels could find a place to belong, or at least strength in numbers. Paramount Global, for example, has a slew of well-known cable brands like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, but the incoming owner Skydance appears to be laser-focused on streaming and broadcast.
No one on Wall Street has been more open about the need to consolidate in cable than Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich, who has floated the idea for some time. “The biggest surprise is Comcast beat WBD to the punch, although we believe a spinout could be a cable network consolidator ,” she wrote in an analyst note Nov. 1.after WBD’s disastrous Q2 earnings that a roll up of cable channels would provide ample opportunities.
A consolidated cable channel company could also provide leverage in the increasingly bitter and acrimonious carriage disputes between pay-TV providers.
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