CNBC is part of Comcast spinoff company

Comcast is spinning off its cable networks, including CNBC, into a separate company, reports Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times.

Mullin reports, “Comcast said Wednesday that the new company will be unencumbered by debt and well-positioned to scoop up other assets. Comcast announced last month that it was considering a spinoff, leading analysts to speculate that the new company would be on the hunt to buy rival cable TV networks, cobbling together a bigger bundle of channels.

“In addition to the cable channels, the spinoff will inherit some of NBCUniversal’s digital assets, including the Rotten Tomatoes film and TV review site and Fandango, the movie ticketing business.

“Some of NBCUniversal’s most senior executives will join the new company.

“Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, will be chief executive of the as-yet unnamed company. Anand Kini, the chief financial officer of NBCUniversal, will be chief operating officer and financial chief of the new venture.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.