Versant spinoff to be completed next month
The start of the new year begins spinoff’s life
[Editor’s Note: This article was updated on December 4.]
The official spinoff of Versant now has a date.
The soon-to-be former Comcast cable networks will be part of the new, independent company as of January 2 at the close of the business day, when it will officially be traded on NASDAQ under the symbol VSNT effective January 5. The Comcast board approved the spinoff on Wednesday.
On December 16, stockholders will receive one share of Versant Class A or Class B common stock for every 25 shares of Comcast Class A or Class B stock owned at the close of the business day. Former NBCUniversal exec Mark Lazarus was named CEO of the company, and Matt Hong was named president of its sports division, which will be known as USA Sports. Hong states the new company will have $7 billion in revenue and $2 billion in EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.)
The spinoff of cable channels and digital properties Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, and Golf Now from NBCUniversal and Comcast was announced in May, involving SyFy, Oxygen, USA Network, Golf Channel, E!, and others. Versant has bulked up on sports rights, with USA recently announcing an eleven-year deal with the WNBA with rights to Olympic contests, NASCAR, WWE Smackdown, Pac-12, The PGA Tour, and more (the company it’s spinning off of recently landed rights to Major League Baseball games.)
Several networks are getting rebrands. Originally standing for the Consumer News and Business Channel, CNBC will have its logo revamped, removing the Peacock, and will debut on December 13. On November 15, MSNBC, which debuted in 1996 as a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC News (hence the name), became MS NOW, which stands for “My Source for News, Opinion and the World.” On Thursday December 4, MS NOW unveiled a new, direct-to-consumer option, similar to what Fox Nation offers (all MSNBC tags on this website will change to MS NOW beginning with this post.)
Also on Thursday, Versant announced it was acquiring Free TV Networks, a company that operates several multicast networks (including 365BLK, Outlaws, Defy, and Busted) and FAST (free advertising-supported television) channels. Versant is also launching a FAST channel through its Fandango At Home portal and acquired Indy Cinema Group.
To further drive the point of their separation from NBC News, CNBC and MS NOW signed a deal with AccuWeather to provide weather reports.
The decision to separate its broadcast/streaming assets from its traditional cable ones comes as more and more viewers cut the cord.
Meanwhile, Comcast is one of three companies that are vying for the assets of Warner Bros. Discovery. Like NBCUniversal, WBD planned to spin its cable properties into a separate company, but was upended by a bid from Paramount for the entire company, with Netflix and Comcast following suit. If Comcast buys Warner Bros, the company will likely sell off its cable networks.
Despite Versant breaking away from NBCUniversal, the two won’t sever ties completely, as NBCU has agreed to serve as Versant’s national advertising representative, selling the company’s commercial inventory on each network through a two-year services agreement.
NBCUniversal is retaining NBC, Telemundo, its owned stations (including Chicago’s WMAQ-TV and WSNS), streamer Peacock, and cable networks Bravo , the newly relaunched NBCSN, and four regional sports networks.