• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

Comcast Corp.’s corporate spinoff of its cable TV networks group now has a company name: Versant.

The spinoff -- which was announced in November last year -- will be home to nearly all of NBC Universal's cable TV networks including USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E, Syfy, and the Golf Channel.

Comcast will maintain ownership of its NBC broadcast network, the NBC TV stations, its streaming platform Peacock, Universal Studios, its Universal-branded theme parks and the Bravo cable TV network.

The name is said to represent the "versatility" of the company, but with more of a business-to-business marketing focus. Some 1,000 corporate names were considered in the process.

In an interview with CNBC, Chief Executive Officer Mark Lazarus said the name was viewed to also represent a “house of brands” where each network and platform would be interacting with its users -- not necessarily each other.

He said the networks will continue to make efforts to grow more digital media assets -- which represents around 20% of the company’s revenues, projected to be some $7 billion a year, according to analyst estimates.

Lazarus said the company is not likely to pursue many TV-related acquisitions such as cable TV networks or TV stations.

Comcast's efforts to spin off its legacy channels comes amidst long-term declines in revenue and viewership for cable and broadcast networks over many years due to cord-cutting by consumers of traditional cable, satellite, or telco TV network bundles sold by companies such as Comcast, Charter Communications, DirecTV, and Dish Network.