Why Is Comcast Spinning NBCUniversal Off?

Matt Strauss says the decision to spin NBCUniversal off from Comcast was made by Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanagh. He was not in the room. People at NBCUniversal, in his telling, would say it makes strategic sense. He started at Comcast in 2004, working on cable boxes.

Nilay Patel describes Versant, which already took CNBC, MSNOW, and other cable channels, as feeling freer and disconnected from Comcast and NBCU. His framing of the next step is that Comcast keeps the cable business and NBCU becomes an entertainment company, with Strauss in charge of that company. People at NBCUniversal, Strauss says, show up with energy, believe in the strategy, and believe in the portfolio.