Comcast to spin off cable networks that were once the entertainment giant's star performers

I completely empathize with people who think this would be a bittersweet thing,

Lazarus said, according to MSNBC

You can't dismiss it as getting rid of the crappy assets, because these are talented executives,

she said

What is MSNBC going to be editorially? I would say some people are probably relieved that probably Comcast and NBC will have less to do with that, because if you look at the kerfuffles over the last year with Mika and Joe and with Ronna McDaniel, it was all… out of sync with our viewers, are our hosts and reporters out of sync with our bosses,

a current MSNBC staffer told Fox News Digital

I think most people have come to terms with the fact that our alignment with NBC is not great,

the MSNBC staffer said

I think most people at NBC would just as soon not have to share those resources with MSNBC because they don't think we have similar goals. It feels the same way going the other direction,

the MSNBC staffer said

It was not immediately clear whether the cable news channels and the network’s core news division would continue to share editorial resources,

NBC News reporter Daniel Arkin wrote

When this happens, you never know what’s going to happen,

he said

Despite NBC News claiming it’s separate from MSNBC, they share many resources,

the former NBC News staffer said

Arguably, we're still a deteriorating business, but this is a potential way to squeeze more value out of these businesses,

the employee said

There's a lot of brand equity involved in being MSNBC or CNBC,

the employee said

Everybody at MSNBC sort of saw the worst coming between some of the cuts that we've taken and the political winds shifting and our exodus of viewers,

they continued

It would be the tragic disembowelment of NBC News and leave it weak and flailing and largely irrelevant,

they continued

There was no conversation about what that editorial direction is going to look like on this front,

they continued

Everybody's deployed out of our facilities at Long Island City where we share physical cameras and camera people and sound engineers, all that's got to change. And it sounds like all that is going to NBC and then MSNBC is going to have to rebuild an infrastructure, which is a very, very big deal,

they said

The most likely buyers of these cable channels are private equity firms or other media conglomerates,

Emarketer analyst Ross Benes said

Jon Milleramerican sportscaster (born 1951)

The pay TV bundle had a great 30-year-plus run,

said Jon Miller, CEO of Integrated Media, which specialises in digital media investments

The company will have significant cash flow, a strong balance sheet and the financial flexibility to pursue growth opportunities, both organically and through acquisitions,

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh wrote in a memo to employees seen by the Reuters news agency

The big concern that stockholders right now on Wall Street are wondering about, before they decide what to do with Comcast shares, is whether Mika is going to have to give up her penthouse.

Scarborough said

Unless Comcast has a vision for what it would do with the capital to build up its remaining media business or how it will cause a merger of the business with another company's cable networks, the transaction would be dis-synergistic,

Wieser wrote

It will be challenging to separate NBC from the cable nets, especially for carriage negotiations,

Moffett wrote