GE Now Seems Likely to Keep NBC Universal
Why is General Electric deciding not to unload or spin off NBC Universal?
For GE, the venerable diversified manufacturer that began the media industry in the 1920s with the birth of the NBC Radio Network, selling the Peacock Network isn't on the table.
Or will it?
Sure, NBC Universal has come a long way since the beginning of radio broadcasting. However, as I put it,
NBC has long been the most-watched, free-to-air broadcast television network and station group prefered
by viewers across the country and abroad. NBCU now owns television networks in more than 100 nations
- which also include USA, SciFi, Chiller, CNBC, Bravo and majority investment in channels such as MSNBC, TV1, Australia's #1 cable and satellite classic TV channel, and the family-friendly kids and teens'
animation channel KidsCo. Through Universal Media Studios, NBC has broadcast thousands of its own original live-action and animated series developed and produced in-house, such as The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno and the Law & Order franchise, as well as a number of series airing on other networks, such as
Worst Week, Delvecchio, Airwolf, The Equalizer, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The District on CBS,
Alias Smith & Jones, Coach and Baretta on ABC and the top-rated medical mystery series on FOX Broadcasting, House, M.D., starring British actor-novelist Hugh Laurie.
In addition, NBC Universal's Universal Pictures - which includes Universal Studios Home Entertainment and
Focus Features - develops, finances, and produces a variety of feature-length theatrical films and releases them through a global network of offices around the world and through Focus Features International.
Among Universal/Focus' biggest theatrical releases are The Express, directed by Gary Fleder, Role Models
and Disney's Dan in Real Life. Other titles from the Universal library are Sony Pictures' The Real Boylen Girls, which proved to be a blockbuster front-role megahit for Focus, and Wanted, based on the comic book of the same title starring Angelina Jolie.
Don't forget to pack your baggage and come over to Burbank and Orlando for the biggest vacation of your life at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Florida Resort. Exciting thrill rides, brilliant shopping and dinning and magical live entertainment await tourists who feel best with Universal when it comes to "Riding the Movies" with pride.
Remember, as always, GE may not be putting up NBCU on the block any time soon.
However, the Peacock Network, home of, for and to many of America's most beloved and longest running
television series across all dayparts - daytime, primetime, late night and sports - and a leading brand in the media industry.
GE, meanwhile, is returning to television-set manufacturing, having entered into a life-long licensing agreement
with a Taiwanese consumer electronics company to design, develop and marketing their first-ever line of high
definition television receivers, continuing the Connecticut company's tradition of introducing a new generation
of "Performance Television" equipment that delivers clear, natural images and crisp, pure digital audio sound to viewers the world over.
On the Web:
http://www.nbcuni.com/
http://www.nbc.com/
http://www.universalstudios.com/
http://www.ge.com/
