• ZDNet, Thursday, December 3, 2009 2:53 PM

Is a Comcast-led NBC Universal destined to thrive or take an AOL/Time Warner-sized dive? Comcast just shelled out $30 billion for a controlling interest in the media company on the premise that it can successfully leverage its content with its arsenal of cable channels, movie studio, and Top 10 Web presence.

"If anyone can make a media merger work it's [Comcast CEO Brian] Roberts, who has a lot of experience with large acquisitions and isn't ego driven," argues ZDNet. Also, "NBCU employees will be stoked to go to Comcast relative to GE ... There's a better match with working with a company that has cable pipes and content than one that make airplane engines and wind turbines." What's more, "Comcast executives said this deal is more like Time Warner buying Turner than Time Warner buying AOL." Either way -- and unlike Time Warner's ill-fated acquisition of AOL -- Roberts said "buying (NBCU) at (a) low point in cyclical changes" made the deal irresistible.

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