Comcast is to spin off its media operation, which includes Sky and the Hollywood film studio, TV and theme park business NBCUniversal, into a separate publicly listed company.
The move comes eight years after the US group, which said the separation will take a year to complete, acquired Sky’s European operations for £31bn.
After completion of the deal investors will hold shares in Comcast, which will operate as a listed company operating broadband and mobile services to 65m US homes, as well as NBCUniversal.
Brian Roberts, the co-chief executive of Comcast, said that separating the two companies would “unlock a more entrepreneurial management approach” for each business.
The NBCUniversal business, which includes the streaming service Peacock and the TV network NBC, will be run by Mike Cavanagh, who is now co-chief executive of Comcast.
“His vision is for a unique, independent, focused company that be home to some of the industry’s most valuable brands and assets across theme parks, film, television, streaming, sports and news,” Roberts said. “This new company will be well positioned to pursue the significant opportunities that lie ahead, to partner across the media and entertainment ecosystem, and will be poised to grow.”
When Comcast acquired Sky for £31bn in 2018 the company guaranteed to keep funding Sky News for a decade, increasing its funding annually in line with inflation.
As that commitment draws closer to expiring, concerns have been raised about whether the US company will continue to fully fund Sky News, which has an annual budget of about £100m but is thought to make losses of as much as £80m.
David Rhodes, the executive chair of Sky News, has previously said the Comcast commitment provides Sky News with more security than most other organisations, and that the parent company has been “supportive of our independence every step of the way”.
Nevertheless, the move to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky will renew speculation about the long-term plans for Sky News.
Comcast opted not to renew a licensing agreement held by News Corporation to use the Sky News brand in Australia. Sky News Australia is rebranding as News24 later this year.
Last month, Sky exited its controversial news joint venture with the United Arab Emirates, Sky News Arabia, which has been criticised for its coverage of the war in Sudan, with accusations of genocide denial.
Last year, Dana Strong, the chief executive of Sky, told staff the broadcaster would continue to back Sky News regardless of any ongoing support by Comcast, which has cut jobs at NBC News in the US.
In 2020 a plan to launch a global rolling news channel to challenge CNN by bringing together Sky News and Comcast’s US-based NBC – called NBC Sky World News – was scrapped.
Sky is also weeks away from officially announcing its £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s media and entertainment operations, which include its free-to-air channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform.
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If that deal can clear regulatory hurdles it will mean the NBCUniversal spin-off company will control 40% of ITN, which produces news for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, making it the largest shareholder in the news provider.
Since buying Sky, Comcast has written down the value of the company by almost a quarter, and last year agreed to sell Sky Deutschland to RTL.
NBCUniversal is building its first theme park in Europe near Bedford, Universal United Kingdom Resort, which is due to open in 2031 and is expected to attract about 8.5 million visitors in its first year of operation.
Comcast has shown that it is willing to make sweeping changes across its businesses.
This year, it completed the spin-off of US cable networks including MSNBC, E! and SYFY into a new publicly traded company, Versant, as traditional TV audiences continue to dwindle.
Mike Proulx, a director at the research firm Forrester, said the creation of a separately listed NBCUniversal could attract the interest of Netflix.
Netflix had agreed an $82.7bn (£62.5bn) deal to buy the studios and streaming business of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), only to be gazumped by a $108.4bn counteroffer for the whole business made by Paramount Skydance.
“Peacock is a scaled streaming asset paired with a major studio and global content engine,” Proulx said. “If that combination looks familiar, it is because it mirrors what Netflix wanted with WBD – a streaming service plus studio. Do not rule out another attempt, despite Netflix’s public comments dialling back mergers and acquisitions.”
