Comcast to spinoff cable TV business

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and a big update from Comcast.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gittins reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:02Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04There was a lot of focus on retail on Wednesday.

00:06Shares of Target plunged 20% after it cut its full-year outlook.

00:11It was a different story, however, for TJX.

00:13The parent company of TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls beat quarterly forecasts

00:18and said the holiday shopping season was off to a strong start.

00:22On Thursday, attention will turn to existing home sales,

00:25jobless claims, and results from BJ's Wholesale Club.

00:29Shifting now to other business headlines,

00:32Comcast is breaking into two separate companies.

00:35Company 1 keeps the Comcast name and will include Comcast's legacy broadband,

00:40cable, and wireless hardware operations,

00:43along with the Universal Movie Studio and theme parks, NBC News,

00:47the Peacock streaming service, the Bravo cable channel, and Telemundo.

00:52Company 2, called Spinco, will include E!, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network,

00:59and a number of other cable channels.

01:01The move splits the faster-growing part of the company from the cable TV content business,

01:07which is losing out viewers, to streaming.

01:09Comcast is betting that it can get consumers to pay more for broadband and internet access

01:15by pushing more content from NBC, Telemundo,

01:18and Bravo through the pipes of its Peacock streaming service.

01:21Peacock has both a time and cost appeal to consumers.

01:25Streaming means consumers can watch whatever they want, whenever they want.

01:29And then there's the money issue.

01:31Peacock's cheapest plan is $7.99 a month, plus the cost of internet access.

01:37Compare that to the average cable bill, which costs around $100 a month.

01:42That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:45I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.

01:51you