The Wall Street Journal reports on the various machinations involved in GE trying to unload its NBC-Universal subsidiary.
Not surprisingly, majority owner GE, and minority (20%) owner Vivendi are haggling over the price with potential buyer Comcast, as possibly other buyers circle around, waiting to see if a regulator-proof deal can be struck. The Obama administration has signaled a much greater interest in anti-trust enforcement, which could possibly kibosh a sale of NBC-U. In which case, the folks at NBC and its little cablets, MSNBC and CNBC, would have to do some quick figuring, as to where they would be better off--staying with GE, or going to Comcast or somewhere else. TCG suspects that there's some interesting back-channeling, from the "BC's" to DC, trying to sort out which ownership regime will do the most for Brian Williams, Maria Bartiromo, Keith Olbermann, et al.
In the meantime, as Sharon Waxman, who first broke the story, reports the suits at Universal are re-suiting themselves in anticipation of new ownership.
But of course, it doesn't help NBC-U's price when NBC shows get canceled before they premiere.
It's hard to see how any new owner of NBC-U would want to keep Jeff Zucker, which probably cools Zucker's enthusiasm for being sold. So TCG wouldn't be surprised to see Zucker sub-rosa leading the effort to encourage his friends the Obamans to block the sale.
