Comcast got the approval to take over NBC Universal...

[JB2K]

Comcast, the country's largest CATV company (and a very well-known corporate name in the Philadelphia area), got the green light from Uncle Sam to take-over GE's share of NBC Universal.

Now that this is reality - and yes, it does include the Universal theme parks in both Florida and California - what do you expect will happen as a result of new ownership?

 

[simonkodousek]

I don't expect any more GE product placement jokes on 30 Rock... Even though I gave up on that show during its 3rd season, LOL.

 

[JB2K]

I was thinking along the lines of the theme parks -- will Comcast still want their Florida park (Universal) to have attractions based on characters owned by the competition (Marvel/Disney), or will they broker some sort of "swap"?

For those who find this impossible, remember that Disney and Universal have done this sort of thing before (namely, Disney swapping Al Michaels' Monday Night Football contract for ownership of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's original creation which had been under Universal since the 1930's).

 

[bicker]

I was thinking along the lines of the theme parks -- will Comcast still want their Florida park (Universal) to have attractions based on characters owned by the competition (Marvel/Disney), or will they broker some sort of "swap"?

I don't see any reason why Comcast would be more likely to push for such a thing than Universal would have been. That's not to say that something won't happen, but it is also not to say that something wouldn't have happened regardless of this acquisition by Comcast.

In discussions that were focused on the Universal versus Disney scenario, regarding Marvel properties, the most compelling points I read indicated that Universal's theme parks division would rather keep hold of the rights to the content as long as they could, without regard to who owned the content at the time.