02 December 2009

GE Getting Out of the Propaganda Business


Industrial icon GE has spent two decades now making sitcoms and movies... right-along with nuclear plants, jet engines, home appliances, and light bulbs. And it's always been a bit of an odd fit- although the legendary Jack Welch's idea of adding a business with a stable cash flow -to balance out the cyclical nature of manufacturing- made a lot of sense at the time.

But now GE is now putting together a $30 billion deal that will give control of NBC-Universal to cable TV operator Comcast Corp- as the massive conglomerate shifts its focus back to its industrial divisions.


The timing is plenty interesting, as they seem to have already drained about all the stimulus and bailout money they can out of this administration. Also recall that in the wake of Obama's abrupt cancellation the Eastern European missile shield, the WH set-up a business meeting between Vladimir Putin and GE, Morgan Stanley, and private-equity powerhouse TPG the very next week.

General Electric was widely considered the company with the closest ties to the Obama administration (if not Goldman Sachs), so surely it's no coincidence that the GE's television news divisions were amongst the most shameless Obama cheerleaders. They've now perhaps outlived their usefulness to GE, though... and what did they care if they shredded NBC's and MSNBC's credibility to get some gub'ment cheese for parent GE... when they were planning to off them all along.

NBC-Universal properties include the USA Network, Bravo, MSNBC, CNBC, The Weather Channel, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Comcast assets include the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment.

And with wild-eyed Obama administration bootlicks like Kieth Olberman and Chris Matthews on the company's payroll -who yesterday referred to West Point an "enemy camp" filled with "rabble"- I guess we'll see soon-enough just how long Comcast is interested in employing such America-hating scum it its newsrooms.

With no stimulus funds coming their way, Obamamania in collapse -and MSNBC ratings already in the toilet- it's hard to imagine why they would need him around anymore.

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