General Electric, NBC Universal’s parent company, is no longer its controlling parental unit.  Comcast, the largest cable operator in the US, has officially merged with NBCU.  It owns 51% of NBCU compared to GE’s slightly lower sliver of 49%.

So how does this affect you?  Well it doesn’t, yet.  It will take at least one year for the merge to finalize.  However, though, it leaves this to ponder: Now a cable company owns a major network that reaches almost every US household.  This may seem unhealthy, right?  Look after the break for some ” merger nutrition facts” regarding this matter.  A lengthly press release follows.

What about everyone’s favorite TV show streaming site, Hulu?  How will that fare in the future?  Comcast COO Steve Burke: “NBC has been careful not to put too much cable content on the Internet. We think that’s a smart strategy… We think that going forward, you’re going to continue to have free broadcast stuff on Hulu, and cable stuff on TV Everywhere.”  There’s been word of “Hulu Premium” content that users will have to pay to watch, what of that?  “That’s certainly not in the cards.”  Oh, good.

[Via Engadget; Gizmodo, here & here]

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