This document provides an overview of NBC Universal, a major media and entertainment company. It was formed through the merger of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment in 2004. It is now owned by Comcast and has its headquarters in New York City. NBC Universal owns various units such as NBC Broadcasting, Universal Pictures, and NBC Sports. It generates over $23 billion in annual revenue. The document also summarizes the history of mergers and acquisitions that led to its current structure under Comcast ownership.

1. COM 480
Corinna Rombi, Federica D’Agostini, Niki LeGree,
Jacqui Specogna and Nadya Vanyukova.

3. MERGER: BETWEEN NBC AND
VIVENDI UNIVERSAL
ENTERTAINMENT (2004)
FOUNDED: 2011
CEO: STEVE BURKE
HEADQUARTERs: GE BUILDING,
NEW YORK CITY
REVENUE: US$ 23.812 BILLION
(2012)
UNITS:
•
NBC BROADCASTING;
•
NBC ENTERTAINMENT;
•
UNIVERSAL PICTURES;
•
NBC UNIVERSAL CABLE;
•
NBC SPORTS GROUP;
•
NBC UNIVERSAL NEWS
GROUP.

4.  1926: Derives from NBC, founded by Radio Corporation of America;
 2004: Joint-venture between General Electric and Vivendi – foundation
of NBC Universal;
 2009: General Electric buys the minority stake of NBC Universal from
Vivendi;
 2011: Comcast buys a stake of 51% in NBC Universal from General
Electric;
 2013: Comcast buys all of NBC Universal;
 2014: Comcast merges with Time Warner.

5. “Strive to deliver the best in media and
technology to homes and businesses
worldwide.”
“Shape the frontiers of information,
entertainment, and communications.”
“Create media that matters.”

6.  “At Comcast and NBC Universal, we believe in the power and possibilities of
media and technology. It’s more than what we do, it’s who we are. We’re a
company of nearly 130,000 employees committed to leveraging our global
assets in ways that go beyond creating value for our customers and
shareholders to connecting and strengthening communities. As a company
uniquely positioned to inform, empower, and inspire, we embrace the
opportunity to create conversation and mobilize action to address some of the
nation’s most critical issues. At Comcast and NBC Universal, it’s not just about
moving our business forward, it’s about moving people forward.”
 Brian L. Roberts, CEO NBC Universal

7. “By embracing different backgrounds and perspectives, we deepen our knowledge and spur
our creativity”.
NBC Universal’s goal is:
 To create the most successful model of diversity and inclusion in our industry, creating a
work environment that rewards creativity and multiculturalism;
 To provide diverse contents in the final media product, projecting the focus towards different
cultures, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations;
 To foster the partnership with strong organizations in order to promote pluralism and
positively impact the community.

8.  Employees;
 Shareholders;
 Business Partners.
Standards of Business Conduct
 “We believe that a business has ethical as well as economic responsibilities and will
prosper most in a trustworthy environment. We are committed to acting with the
highest ethical standards and to protecting our reputation for integrity. Our Code of
Conduct provides standards of business conduct for all of our employees, officers and
directors to live up in order to achieve our commitment to our shareholders and to
our public.”

9.  Concentration of media ownership is a
process whereby progressively fewer
individuals or organizations control
increasing shares of the mass media;
 The Comcast-NBC consolidation expands
Comcast both vertically and horizontally
within the media market;
 Vertical integration includes the
combination of video producer (NBC) and
video distributor (Comcast);
 Horizontal integration includes adding
NBC’s programming.

10.  “10 TV and movie production studios (including Universal
Pictures), 20 cable channels, 11 regional broadcast TV
stations, 15 Telemundo stations, 9 regional sports cable
networks, 1 regional news cable station (New England
Cable News), a whole bunch of websites, 2 pro sports
teams in Philadelphia and 2 arenas, a food service
vendor, a ticket agency, and 4 theme parks. And some
other stuff.”
-Mark Leccese
Public Watchdog

11. MEDIA WATCHDOG CRITICISM
• On Feb. 2014 Comcast bought Time Warner;
• This deal would give Comcast control of a third of
the U.S. Pay-TV market and half of the triple-play
market for video, voice and internet service;
• Comcast already owns NBC, Universal Studios and
many cable networks and popular websites;
• Comcast is the country’s #1 cable and Internet
company and Time Warner Cable is #2;
• This deal isn’t just about dollars. It’s also about
democracy. The merger would give Comcast an
even better shot of ensuring that future
communications policies favor its bottom line.

13.  Ownership may undermine
democracy;
 Emphasize standardization:
De-emphasize localism;
 Focus on promotion and
multi-media revenue streams;
 Vulnerability to big advertising;
 Lack of ethics in media
ownership.

14. FOUNDED: 1979, Australia
PREDECESSOR: NEWS
CORPORATION
FOUNDER: RUPERT MURDOCH
HEADQUARTERS: AVENUE OF
THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK CITY
REVENUE: US$ 33.706 BILLION
(2012)
UNITS:
•
TELEVISION;
•
INTERNET;
•
MAGAZINES AND INSERTS;
•
NEWSPAPERS AND
INFORMATION SERVICES;
•
PUBLISHING HOUSES.

15.  1979: Rupert Murdoch creates News Corporation as a holding company for
News Limited;
 1984: News Corporation acquires 20th Century Fox;
 1986: News Corporation enters the British market;
 1990: Sky Television merges with British Sky Broadcasting, becoming BSkyB;
 1996: Launch of Fox News Channel;
 2006: Phone-Hacking Scandal causes major scandal worldwide;
 2007: Acquisition of Dow Jones & Company and The Wall Street Journal;
 June 2013: News Corporation splits into 21th Century Fox and News Corp.

16. “Creating and distributing top quality
news, sports and entertainment
around the world.”
“Fair and Balanced.”

17. Internal, closed corporation that grants security
rights for employees and stakeholders;
“We are a network of leading companies in the
worlds of diversified media, news, education, and
information services.”
-Rupert Murdoch

18. News Corp’s diversity and inclusion efforts focus on:
 Leading and managing inclusively – embracing different
cultures, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations;
 Creating a work environment that fosters growth and
advancement;”
 Engaging with our audiences in a way that reflects and
respects their unique perspectives and experiences.

19.  Shareholders
 Employees
Standards of Business Conduct
 “Trust is built on commitment. The Company is committed to our
employees and our stockholders. We also recognize our
commitments to free markets and to the global community,
especially the public that consumes our content. These
commitments form the foundation for these Standards.”

20. “All human life is there.”

21.  First edition printed on October1, 1843 in the
United Kingdom;
 Founded with the words: “Our motto is the truth,
our practice is fearless advocacy of the truth. ”
 Acquired by Murdoch in 1969 and transformed into
a tabloid concentrated on celebrity-based scoops
focusing on sex scandals, drug use and criminal
acts;
 At it’s peak in the 1950’s, was biggest selling
English language newspaper in the world with 7.4
million readers each week;
 News Corporation announces closure of the
newspaper on July 7, 2011.

22.  Stemmed from the case of young girl Milly Dowler (13), who went
missing in England March 21, 2002;
 Employees of News of the World were accused of engaging in phone-
hacking, police bribery and exercising improper influence in the pursuit
of publishing stories;
 Investigations conducted from 2005-07 concluded NOTW’s phone-
hacking activities also included celebrities, politicians and members of
the British Royal Family;
 Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson and Royal editor Clive
Goodman were arrested in July 2011 as well as 6 other journalists;
 News of the World announces public closure July 2011.

23.  From July 15th onwards,
News Corp began issuing
public apologies in British
national newspapers.

24. What happens when media corporations get too cozy with
power?
• Murdoch’s media properties cover the news but they
use this coverage to gain favorable access to elected
officials to promote News Corp’s agenda;
• News Corp uses its media power to shape corporatefriendly policies and quash those that don’t further its
aims;
• Free Press has asked the FCC (Federal
Communications Commision) to assess the company’s
actions and continues to urge Congress to investigate
further;
• The Justice Department in response to Free Press,
launched a probe of News Corp.

25. “We Report, You Decide.”
“Fair and Balanced.”

26.  Cable television news launched in 1996;
 Roger Ailes is President;
 Was created as an alternative to CNN;
 In 2002, surpassed viewership ratings of
CNN;
 Has always been criticized for conservative
bias.

27. • Cropping Videos and
Comments;
• Video and Footage
Manipulations;
 Iraq War;
 Health Care;
 Global Warming.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a
single positive story on me in a 24hour period.”(Obama, 2009)

29.  Viewership went down;
 Roger Ailes stated that he: “Would not even watch the channel
anymore and would begin institutional changes,”(2011);
 Glenn Beck announces his departure;
 Bill O’Reilly hosted a gay activist on his show;
 Fox News had to apologize and admit that it is not “Fair and
Balanced.”

30. CONSENSUS
ACTUAL POSITION
AUTOCRATIC
PARTICIPATORY
PERCEIVED POSITION
PLURALISM