The NBCU-News Corp. JV — which needs a name sooner, not later — has signed a three-fer with Comcast. The deal expands distribution by adding Comcast.net and upcoming Fancast.com; it’s also Newco’s first outside content deal. Comcast Networks will provide non-exclusive content for domestic distribution, including Versus, E, Style, G4, and Golf Channel. And there’s a tech component: The JV will use media management and video distribution technology from Comcast subsidiary thePlatform. Release.
(Disclosure: thePlatform is one of our sponsors.)
Update: George Kliavkoff holds two jobs right now — chief digital officer for NBCU and the lead exec on the JV until a CEO is found. (More on that below.) We talked Monday afternoon about what Comcast brings to the JV and about a few other JV-related matters. First, Comcast, one of the few triple-play deals the JV is likely to make. On the tech side, thePlatform, acquired by Comcast last June, will be a “key component ” of the video syndication; it’s already plays a role in NBBC, the broadband video marketplace launched last fall that is part of NBCU’s contribution to the JV. As for programming, Comcast and the JV are still ironing out the details but live sports — Comcast has rights to the NHL, the Tour de France and more — isn’t part of the mix. Kliavkoff said the focus is on ad-supported free on-demand content, not live, for now.
No equity partners in offing: Kliavkoff said no discussions are underway with potential equity partners and that few companies come close to matching what NBCU and News Corp. bring to the JV in terms of content. In addition, being limited at this point to two partners makes the task of setting up a complicated new company a little easier. The JV is talking to other potential distribution partners and may do one or two more deals before launch but, even before Comcast, already claimed the ability to reach 96 percent of the U.S. internet audience — lessening the pressure. They want more non-exclusive content partners. He says, “We’re slowed down only by bandwidth.” Not the program-distribution kind, the time-and-energy version.
On the CBS Interactive Audience Network: Kliavkoff: “I think what they did is exactly what we did in that they embraced aggregation and ubiquitous distribution.”
Limited distribution exclusivity: Kliavkoff contends that going through the JV for online distribution deals will make it easier for content providers but says the only exclusive distribution is to the NewSite portal: “There’s nothing that precludes them from going to directly to anyone including MySpace. The only thing they need the NewSite joint venture for (in terms of exclusivity) is to reach the NewSite destination site.”
JV CEO Search: Kliavkoff says they’ve hired a recruiting firm and have a “good short list” including some who “raised their hand” and others the JV has identified. Interviews should start soon. (Any bets on which comes first — a name or a CEO?)
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