• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Legacy media companies want smaller, more aggressive business units. But at the same time, they want more control. Can this work?

Consider the potential moves of Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance -- efforts to spin off media business assets to become more aggressive in the marketplace.

These moves follow those of Fox Corp in 2019 to do just that -- be smaller.

This followed Fox Corp. selling off its TV production and entertainment cable networks -- and by way of Disney, Fox Corp. regional sports networks -- and other legacy media companies are now following its lead.

Selling off TV production and entertainment cable networks -- and by way of Disney, regional sports networks -- other legacy media companies are now following its lead.

But there is a difference. If Comcast makes a deal to buy the Warner Bros. Discovery cable TV networks group -- to be called Discovery Global after WBD’s planned spinoff -- it could still have controlling share power over two companies, with bigger Versant-Discovery Global companies as well as its businesses NBCUniversal (NBC Television Network, Telemundo, Bravo, TV stations, movie and film studios, and Peacock).

What might happen? For one, says Rich Greenfield, partner/media analyst of LightShed Partners, it gives Comcast CEO Brian Roberts some revisionist business history of sorts.

Comcast would instantly rival Walt Disney -- currently the biggest of all legacy media companies when looking at many financial data points.

Greenfield reminds us that 21 years ago, Comcast made a hostile bid to take over Disney. Now Roberts would not only find a way to get much closer as a competitor to Disney, but would do so under two separate publicly traded companies.

This is something analysts have said Disney could be doing as well. Iger has reiterated that the linear TV and streaming TV businesses should benefit each other.

Greenfield, for example, called for Disney to do its own spinoff of ESPN and ABC Television Network as a separately traded public company -- and believes that once Disney CEO Robert Iger departs as planned, this could be a reality.

A deal with WBD eliminates any federal regulatory concerns, since the deal includes no broadcast TV stations -- and that is good news for Comcast.

One downside, however, is that Comcast would now have more TV news networks -- CNN and Headline News, for example -- adding to Versant’s MSNBC and CNBC.

MSNBC will rebrand as MS NOW on November 15, 2025.

Why isn’t that good? Both CNN and MSNBC continue to be a source of distress for President Trump, and news media execs are becoming increasingly weary of the issues and conflict.

But didn’t Roberts just make a big donation to a proposed $350 million White House adjacent ballroom that President Trump has been pursuing?

We don’t know how much of a factor this will be when it comes to consideration of future media deal-making.

As the cliche goes: We just follow the actions of executives -- not always what they say.

Going small might be a way to find a space -- some niche area where they can go about their business without too many people noticing.