Comcast

Comcast's current logo, used since 2012

Comcast Center in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

### Divisions

Xfinity
NBCUniversal
Sky

### Subsidaries

Comcast Technology Solutions
Comcast Business
Comcast Spectacor
Comcast Venture
Midco (49%)

### Website

corporate.comcast.com

**Comcast Corporation** (formerly registered as **Comcast Holdings**) is an American global telecommunications conglomerate headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the second-largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue and the largest pay-TV company, the largest cable TV company and largest home Internet service provider in the United States, and the nation's third-largest home telephone service provider. Comcast services U.S. residential and commercial customers in 40 states and in the District of Columbia. As the owner of the international media company NBCUniversal since 2011, Comcast is a producer of feature films and television programs intended for theatrical exhibition and over-the-air and cable television brodcast, respectively.

Comcast owns and operates the Xfinity cable communications subsidiary, over-the-air national broadcast network channels (NBC and Telemundo), multiple cable-only channels (including MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, NBCSN, and E!, among others), the film studio Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks & Resorts. It also has significant holdings in digital distribution, such as thePlatform, which it acquired in 2006. In February 2014, the company agreed to merge with Time Warner Cable in an equity swap deal worth $45.2 billion, under the terms of the agreement, Comcast was to acquire 100% of Time Warner Cable. However, on April 24, 2015, Comcast terminated the agreement. Comcast and Charter Communications entered into an agreement to conduct exclusive discussions with Sprint Corporation in late June 2017. Since October 2018, it is also the parent company of mass media pan-European company Sky, making it the biggest and leading media company with more than 53 million subscribers over five countries across Europe.

Comcast has been criticized for multiple reasons; its customer satisfaction often ranks among the lowest in the cable industry. In addition, Comcast has violated net neutrality practices in the past; and, despite Comcast's commitment to a narrow definition of net neutrality, critics advocate a definition which precludes any distinction between Comcast's private network services and the rest of the Internet. Critics also point out a lack of competition in the vast majority of Comcast's service area; there is limited competition among cable providers. Furthermore, given Comcast's negotiating power as a large ISP, some suspect that Comcast could leverage paid peering agreements to unfairly influence end-user connection speeds. And its ownership of both content production (in NBCUniversal) and content distribution (as an ISP) has raised antitrust concerns. These issues, in addition to others, led to Comcast being dubbed "The Worst Company in America" by *The Consumerist* in 2010 and 2014.

## History

### Largest U.S. cable provider (2001–present)

#### NBCUniversal

*Main article: Acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast*

Media outlets began reporting in late September 2009 that Comcast was in talks to buy NBC Universal. Comcast denied the rumors at first, while NBC would not comment on them. However, CNBC itself reported on October 1 that General Electric was considering spinning NBC Universal off into a separate company that would merge the NBC television network and its cable properties such as USA Network, Syfy and MSNBC, as well as Universal Studios, with Comcast's content assets. GE would maintain 49% control of the new company, while Comcast owned 51%. Vivendi, which owns 20%, would have to sell its stake to GE. It was reported that under the current deal with GE that it would happen in November or December. It was also reported that Time Warner would be interested in placing a bid, until CEO Jeffrey L. Bewkes directly denied interest, leaving Comcast the sole bidder. On November 1, 2009, *The New York Times* reported Comcast had moved closer to a deal to purchase NBC Universal and that a formal announcement could be made sometime the following week.

Following a tentative agreement on December 1, the parties announced that Comcast would buy a controlling 51% stake in NBCUniversal for $6.5 billion in cash and $7.3 billion in programming on December 3. GE would take over the remaining 49% stake in NBC Universal, using $5.8 billion to buy out Vivendi's 20% minority stake in NBC Universal. On January 18, 2011, the FCC approved the deal by a vote of 4 to 1. The sale was completed on January 28, 2011. On February 12, 2013, Comcast announced an intention to acquire the remaining 49% of General Electric's interest in NBCUniversal, which Comcast completed on March 19, 2013.

#### Acquisition of Sky

*Main article: Sky (company)#Takeover by Comcast*
On February 27, 2018, Comcast offered to purchase 61% stake in Sky plc at a value of £12.50 per-share, approximately £22.1 billion. 21st Century Fox, which owns 39% stake in Sky, had previously declined a US$60 billion acquisition offer by Comcast in favour of its deal with Disney, due to anti-competition concerns. NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke stated that purchasing Sky would roughly double its presence in English-speaking markets, and allow for synergies between the respective networks and studios of NBCUniversal and Sky. Fox stated that it "remains committed to its recommended cash offer for Sky", and that Comcast had not yet made a "firm offer".

On April 12, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers ruled that Disney had to acquire all of Sky within 28 days of fully acquiring Fox if the latter's acquisition of Sky is not completed by the time the merger is done, or if Comcast's counter-offer isn't accepted. On April 25, 2018, Comcast made its formal counter-bid for Sky plc, offering £12.50 per-share; Sky subsequently withdrew its recommendation of the Fox bid. On June 5, 2018, Culture Secretary Matt Hancock cleared both 21st Century Fox and Comcast's respective offers to acquire Sky plc. Fox's offer is contingent on the divestiture of Sky News.

On June 15, 2018, the European Commission gave antitrust clearance to Comcast's offer to purchase Sky, citing that in terms of their current assets in Europe, there would be limited impact on competition. Comcast included a 10-year commitment to the operations and funding of Sky News similar to that of Disney's offer. On June 19, 2018, Disney formally agreed to acquire Sky News as part of Fox's proposed bid, with a 15-year commitment to increase its annual funding from £90 million to £100 million.

On July 11, 2018, 21st Century Fox raised its bid to purchase Sky plc assets to $32.5 billion, and $18.57 a share. In response, Comcast increased its bid to $34 billion, and $19.5 a share. At the same time, Fox was given clearance by the British government to purchase Sky. On July 18, 2018, *Bloomberg* reported that the Sky board scheduled July 27, 2018 as the day shareholders vote on selling Sky properties.

On September 22, 2018, Comcast outbid 21st Century Fox, by raising its bid for Sky plc to $40 billion, or $22.57 a share. On September 25, 2018, Comcast has bought 30% stake of Sky plc. The next day on September 26, 2018, Fox with the consent of its acquirer sold its 39% stake to Comcast in exchange for $15 billion in cash. In October 2018 Comcast later acquired the rest of the shares of the Sky with the company being dislisted in November. The merger closed on November 7 with the company being dislisted after becoming a wholly owned subsidiary and division of Comcast.