Comcast’s The majority of the spinoffs of the NBCuniversal Cable Network portfolio have been named Versant, the company said Tuesday, finishing a months-long process to select a new company’s moniker.
According to CEO Mark Lazarus, who spoke in the interview, the new company chose Bersant (pronounced as the root of the word Concentant) to highlight its versatility and familiarity with multiple subjects. Versant, known as Spinco until its permanent name was chosen, is USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E! , Syfy, Golf Channel and other cable networks. It also houses digital assets Fundango, rotten tomatoes, golf know, golf passes and sports engines.
The rest of Comcast’s NBCuniversal portfolio, including Broadcast Network, Peacock Streaming Services, Universal Studios, Theme Parks, and Bravo, will remain on Comcast.
The new name itself is not for consumers. Lazarus hopes that Bersant will be considered a branded home, and individual assets will interact with users rather than with the company’s holdings.
“We’re focusing on the individual brands we have, not on the company names,” Lazarus said. “This is the name of the holding company. It will be used for inter-company purposes.”
Lazarus is expected to be spin-out from Comcast by the end of 2025. The assets held by the new company generated approximately $7 billion in revenue last year.
Given the rapidly changing media ecosystem, the company’s emphasis on versatility is noteworthy. Lazarus needs to build a Wall Street growth story for investors once the company opens to trade. This includes making acquisitions based on the company’s core. Some of these deals could go outside of pure media plays, he said.
Lazarus cited the acquisition of Golf No, a tee-time booking company.
“Most people don’t know that Golfnow is even part of our company,” Lazarus said. “We will not become a purely linear and digital media assets collection.”
Mark Lazaro at an early presentation of NBCuniversal from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Monday, May 13th, 2024.
Charles Sykes | nbcuniversal | Getty Images
Lazarus said that brands such as CNBC could include acquiring personal finance or fintech platforms. For MSNBC, Lazarus said he has already had some preliminary conversations about the possibility of purchasing a podcast that corresponds to the Democrats. He said that if they make such an acquisition, the plan would be to use the cable network as a marketing funnel to operate as another business unit, rather than broadcasting its programming for MSNBC.
According to Lazarus, Versant will not launch its own streaming service. Instead, it relies on your brand to develop your own digital strategy.
Lazarus said about 20% of the company’s revenue is already digital. Bersant is also likely to return the money to shareholders via dividends, CNBC reported in November.
One strategy the company has not pursued is to get a group of cable networks.
Lazarus said he has little interest in accumulating more liabilities than accompanying low-growth assets. He said that while some affiliated companies have improved growth outlook, it could make it more attractive on a case-by-case basis.
Bersant is unlikely to acquire the TV station group in the current regulatory environment, Lazarus said. Federal Communications Commission’s Brendan Kerr told CNBC’s Sarah Eisen on Monday that it’s not a good thing for the country to have news media companies across the country, including NBC, “increasing control” on local television stations.
Select Versant
Comcast relied on marketing employees for each of Spinco’s brands to help them decide on a name.
According to those familiar with the process, the meeting began in late December. A few weeks later, the company had over 1,000 potential names. Employees were told to focus on New York, cable television or names that focus on references handed over to the 30 Rockefeller Center, NBCuniversal’s headquarters.
We then filtered names for legal and trademark infringement issues and other potential issues, such as definitions of words in different languages. Comcast also hired three marketing agencies to generate names and cull the list.
The lawyer passed 43 of the original names, Lazarus said. The list was shortened to around 12 finalists, each of which was presented to the Decision Committee.
Lazarus and his marketing team have chosen Bersant in the past few weeks. According to some references, the word means “area of land that slops in one general direction.”
Lazarus joked that the uphill slope reminded him of a “stopping stock price.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCuniversal, which owns CNBC. Bersant will become CNBC’s new parent company under the proposed spinoff.
