Comcast’s DreamWorks Deal Reflects Shifting Bets on Media

Comcast’s intense pursuit of DreamWorks Animation highlights just how much the media landscape has changed in the five years since Comcast acquired NBCUniversal.

Pay TV’s future looks less rosy, as consumers switch to cheaper skinny TV packages, watch more streaming video or cut the cord entirely. Across the dial, from ESPN to AMC, the nation’s big cable channels have lost subscribers and viewers. Media giants are looking almost anywhere for growth. They have put bets on foreign TV markets. DreamWorks holds many attractions for NBCUniversal. For starters, animated entertainment—whether film or TV—tends to perform better in foreign markets than regular scripted fare. It also drives consumer-products sales, a business that generates close to $500 million annually for NBCUniversal, which is likely to get a big boost from DreamWorks-owned characters like Po, the “Kung Fu Panda,” the penguins of “Madagascar,” and the “Trolls,” who will get their own movie in November. The DreamWorks deal also is expected to be a boon to NBCUniversal’s Universal theme-parks unit.