Now that we know for sure that Comcast is going to be the owner of 51% of NBCU Universal, the next question is how the mega deal, which valued NBC Universal at $30 billion, is going to impact both Comcast and NBC Universal (Telemundo) Hispanic assets and the people who work at them. Portada’s editorial team tried to answer the 8 main questions.
1. What is the rationale of the deal from a Hispanic perspective?
The deal brings together 16 owned and operated Telemundo TV stations, mun2, and an interest in TVOne, a cable/satellite television network targeted primarily to African Americans. In addition, Comcast has cable distribution assets in 39 states (all U.S. states) with the exception of Nevada, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Montana.
A Comcast spokesperson interviewed by Portada notes that content targeted to Hispanics will be leveraged over all these distribution assets. “We will expand the ability of over the air programming in the Hispanic community. We will be putting Telemundo in more places and expand mun2 onto Comcast’s cable platform.”(See the list of Hispanic channels that Comcast carries under question 6 below).
2. Will digital delivery of Hispanic targeted content change?
Telemundo’s and mund2 content will be integrated into different online properties managed by Comcast Interactive Media. One of them is fancast.com, an entertainment site with extensive video collection of television shows, movies, trailers and clips.
In addition, Comcast is readying a content on demand site and is launching a trial version of it in the next few weeks. Every Comcast cable customer, there are 23.4 million customers nationwide, will have access to it. In addition, non Comcast cable customers will be able to download content through a pay per view process. Content targeted to Hispanics will also be offered on this platform.
In addition, NBC owns 27% of Hulu, the popular free online video service. So the integration/innovation possibilities are almost endless.
3. How is the Hispanic media buying community reacting to the deal?
What will the deal mean to advertisers? More segmentation opportunities will be obtained by buying just from one media group. The combined group does not only own mass market channels like NBC and USA Networks and Telemundo, but also niche media like Ivillage, Daily Candy or Oxigen.
Enrique Dussan, media director at Hispanic Advertising Agency Wing Latino says that he expect that the “Comcast-Telemundo buy will have an effect on Hispanic TV advertising mainly for the fact that, as opposed to GE, Comcast is a broadcaster and will probably be more interested in investing in programming and network development. This can also have an impact on how multi platforms become available between all outlets and perhaps even more multicultural opportunities.”
4. Will there be consolidation of content assets or sales teams?
Definitely not for the next 9 to 12 months because the deal needs regulatory approval.
After that the Comcast spokesperson says that it is very unlikely that the content assets will be consolidated. There may be some integration of the advertising sales forces. There has been some talk by insiders that Telemundo could even be dismantled in the long term. As Diane Mernigas from BNet points out in a recent article. Comcast could select the best of NBC TV and Telemundo and integrate it into NBCU’s combined cable networks or create new cable networks rather than sell them. It also could sell off the TV stations to major NBC-affiliated groups owners such as HearstTelevision, Gannett and Belo. As the controlling owner, Comcast also could opt to sell or dismantle the Spanish language Telemundo TV Network and TV stations.
5. What is Comcast’s current Hispanic offering?
"We have signed deals with more than 140 multicultural networks featuring programming from around the world (including more than 70 deals with Hispanic networks alone) and currently offer several diverse channels in our line-up and on demand offerings.”, the Comcast spokesperson says.
Comcast offers three options for adding Spanish-language programming for Hispanic audiences, which include more than 300 choices of On Demand en Español content.
- Comcast Canales Selecto – Available as an add-on to any existing video offering.
- CableLatino – Offers both Spanish and English-language programming in one package.
- Comcast Completo –Digital Starter and Hispanic tier.
Comcast has partnerships with leading Hispanic content providers, like Univision, through which it offers a line of in-language programming content including news, television series and movies. It also works with providers like Univision to inform consumers about these offerings through marketing, as well as helping to build awareness around key issues like the recent DTV.
6. What Hispanic channels does Comcast carry?
For a comprehensive list of Hispanic channels that Comcast carries, please click here.
7. As Telemundo is now owned by Comcast will Comcast’s relationship with other content providers be affected?
The Comcast spokesperson asked by Portada notes that “For 9-12 months business will be as usual until the deal is finalized. Even after that, Comcast’s cable unit will still be a separate entity.
8. What was Telemundo’s valuation in the deal?
To read the answer to this question, please click here (article available for purchase).
