Comcast to Spin Off MSNBC, CNBC and Other Cable Networks

Business|Comcast to Spin Off Cable Networks, Including MSNBC and CNBC

Comcast said Wednesday that it would spin off its cable networks, including MSNBC and CNBC, in a bid to unshackle its movie studio and theme parks from the waning fortunes of traditional television.

NBCUniversal, Comcast’s media division, is set to cleave off a bundle of cable channels that generate roughly $7 billion in revenue annually, including USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel, into a new public company. Comcast will keep the NBC broadcast network under NBCUniversal, along with Bravo, home to reality TV programs like “Top Chef”; the company’s theme parks; and its Universal studio.

Brian Roberts, the influential chief executive of Comcast, will own a one-third voting stake in the new company, which is expected to complete the spinoff to Comcast investors before the end of next year, after shareholder and regulatory approval. Mr. Roberts will not serve on the board of the new venture nor oversee its operations.

The spinoff is a reversal of sorts for Mr. Roberts, who has spent much of his professional life building up the cable business founded by his father, Ralph, into a globe-spanning media and telecommunications giant. By splitting his kingdom into pieces, Mr. Roberts follows one of his longtime mentors, the cable pioneer John Malone, who has long relied on a web of spinoffs and so-called tracking stocks to manage his sprawling media empire.