Comcast is spinning off its media operation — including Sky and the Hollywood studio, TV and theme park business NBCUniversal — into a separate publicly listed company, eight years after acquiring Sky's European operations for £31bn. The separation will take a year to complete and marks a fundamental restructuring of one of the world's largest media conglomerates.
After the deal is completed, investors will hold shares in Comcast, which will operate as a listed company running broadband and mobile services to 65m US homes, as well as NBCUniversal. Brian Roberts, the co-chief executive of Comcast, said separating the two companies would "unlock a more entrepreneurial management approach" for each business.
Sky News Funding in Question
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.
ITV Takeover and Market Consolidation
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. If that deal clears regulatory hurdles, 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.
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. Roberts said: "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," and added: "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."
Streaming Wars and Consolidation
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, only to be overtaken by a $108.4bn counteroffer for the whole business made by Paramount Skydance.
Proulx said: "Peacock is a scaled streaming asset paired with a major studio and global content engine. 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."
Why This Matters:
The Comcast restructuring reveals the brutal economics of legacy media in the streaming age. Sky's £80m annual losses at Sky News underscore a fundamental question: who pays for public-interest journalism when the business model has collapsed? The expiring funding guarantee and simultaneous spin-off create uncertainty at a moment when Sky is consolidating control over British news production through the ITV deal. If the NBCUniversal spin-off proceeds, one company will control 40% of ITN and own Sky News — a concentration of news provision that warrants regulatory scrutiny. The £1.6bn ITV takeover, combined with theme park investments and streaming consolidation, shows media giants betting on scale and vertical integration as the only path to profitability. European regulators must ensure that market consolidation doesn't come at the cost of editorial independence and plurality.