Comcast is offloading its cable properties. Other media companies could do the same. (Video)

Comcast (CMCSA) downloads most of its cable properties. And others in the industry are likely to make similar moves.

The legacy media giant announced the spin-off on Wednesday after teasing the possibility just weeks before. At the time, the company said he wanted to “play offense” to combat an industry burdened by increased cord cutting.

“It makes sense to split linear assets, or most linear assets,” Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich told Yahoo Finance Market Domination following the news. “All traditional media companies are thinking about what assets they need to hold to grow in the future and what they should shed.”

The spin-off company, called SpinCo for now, will host most of NBCUniversal’s cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel.

Comcast will retain ownership of its NBC broadcast network, including NBC News, along with its Peacock streaming service. The Bravo channel, which provides key original programming for the Peacock, will be the only cable property not included in the spin-off.

“Cable networks are clearly in a very challenged universe,” said Reif Ehrlich. “I think this is the beginning of what could be a consolidation of the industry or a complement to the cable networks.”

Most streaming platforms are finally profitable, or at least close to breaking even. But the disappearance of the bundle of cables it’s still a complicated mess for legacy players who want to survive in a new digital age.

For years, linear advertising and affiliate fees, or fees paid by pay TV providers to network owners to carry their channels, have steadily boosted those networks’ revenues. But the shift to streaming has caused cable subscribers to decline, affecting affiliate fees. Meanwhile, streaming companies entering the advertising market they took another leg off the chair.

Pressure from deteriorating linear networks, coupled with heavy debt, has forced traditional media giants to cut costs wherever they can, resulting in mass layoffs and restructuring efforts.

Case in point: Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Paramount Global (PARA). The two companies took a collective hit of $15 billion on the value of their respective cable businesses earlier this summer.

Wall Street analysts say that opens the door for SpinCo to acquire other scrap cable properties.

“We think this could be seen as a positive for peers with cable network assets like WBD, which could be watching similar ‘Good Co’ – ‘Bad Co’ spins,” said KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel in a note on Wednesday.

Bofa’s Reif Ehrlich added: “If (SpinCo) is in fact an industry roll-up, then you could take other companies’ cable networks and merge them, cut overhead and combine sales (and) advertising distribution”.

“There are a lot of efficiencies to be had by combining a lot of these companies,” she said. “Can these companies survive as part of a larger entity? Yes, of course I can.”

WBD CEO David Zaslav recently suggested further consolidation of the industryciting the incoming Trump administration as a possible catalyst. Meanwhile, Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media is set to closein the second half of 2025. It’s unclear what will happen to Paramount’s cable and TV properties after the merger.

Even Disney (early) explored spinning off its traditional TV assetswhich include the ABC broadcast network and cable channels such as FX, Freeform and National Geographic. Disney CEO Bob Iger has since returned to those commentsbut it is still possible that a spin-off or asset sale could be reviewed.

“There are a lot of other cable network companies that could be owned under this (SpinCo) umbrella,” Reif Ehrlich said. “It could be a very interesting couple of years.”

Alexandra Canal is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email them at [email protected].

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