Content is King; Comcast Says So

One quick takeaway generated by Comcast’s massive bid to take control of NBC Universal stands out from the plethora of points that will keep talking heads, journalists and analysts busily occupied for the next year or so. Content is king and the king needs to be surrounded by all the accoutrements of power.

Comcast, by owning the pipe over which the content will flow — in effect building the castle in which the king will live — can provide the necessary flourishes that will indeed make content royalty.

At least that’s my favorite takeaway, but then you know I have a thing for content and how it’s presented on television.

By buying NBC Universal, Comcast has indicated that it’s interested in getting all kinds of content to as many screens as possible in as many ways as it can. Did you notice one of the hidden properties within the deal is Hulu? How do you think that’s going to play on a cable system—or maybe not on a cable system but on a cable systems’ mobile service? Did anyone say 4G? Did the term Clearwire pop up in there somewhere?

And how about the Universal theme parks? Is it too outlandish to think that there might be some tie-in between those attractions and the way they be brought to your home television as part of an interactive offering? Can’t get to Orlando to fly with ET—or whatever interactive event is going on there these days? Why not take a trip via your TV and some neat new yet-to-be-invented 3D graphics in your living room?

Of course there are the more conventional channels, the NBC cable lineup and the big boy itself, the NBC broadcast network. One of the first analyses of the deal was that perhaps Comcast will bring cable to broadcast rather than the way it’s always been with broadcast coming to cable.

The cable model is less structured. It features fewer programs, better quality, different schedules and less reliance on advertising support. DVRs really eliminate the need for scheduled viewing, but the broadcasters insist on having their seasons. Maybe a cable operator owning broadcast content will change that and the NBC broadcast lineup will resemble something more like USA or Bravo where high quality content comes and goes without regard to seasons.

Certainly Comcast might be able to infuse standard downstream programming with a patina of interactivity; burying more details in the nightly news, perhaps, with in-depth analysis akin to a newspaper editorial page buried within the program and available interactively to the interested viewer. Perhaps it would be a little more lighthearted; a jaunt to the background Web site of one of NBC’s remaining scripted programs. Being owned by the cable network certainly makes the R&D to develop such interactive fare more reasonable because there is already a conduit available to show it off.

That, perhaps more than anything else, is why I’m a little psyched about the deal. Rather than looking at it as one player owning too much, I’m seeing one player opening up the horizons of its capabilities to content providers who can how expand their views and their wares. The winners, when done properly and interactively, will be the end viewers; whether Comcast subscribers or others in a pay television universe that now includes computers, telephones and even competitive service providers.

Comcast, by buying NBC Universal, has proven that content is king. Now it’s time to give that king a castle in which to live and all the accoutrements that go with royalty.