The Cable TV Business Is Dying. Is It Worth Saving?

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Comcast Corp. opened its latest earnings call with a surprise announcement: The Brian Roberts-run media giant was weighing whether to spin out its cable TV channels into a separate "well-capitalized company" that "would position them to take advantage of opportunities in the changing media landscape."



Was Comcast testing the waters? Sure. Comcast president Mike Cavanagh made it clear that the company was just beginning to look into the idea, and was far from making a formal decision.

But one thing became clear: Wall Street seemed to like it. Comcast shares surged when the market opened, and closed up 4 percent on an otherwise down day for Wall Street. And Comcast's news seemed to make waves across the entire industry, with Warner Bros. Discovery shares also surging, and Disney and Paramount also inching up. In fact, on a day when almost the entire market was down, the media and telecom segments were up.

A spinoff "would be a very welcome development," wrote MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett on Oct. 31. "Investors have yearned for exactly this, or at least something close to it, for years."

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