Comcast Vertical Integration

1342 Words6 Pages
History of both the companies Comcast Comcast Cable is the largest video, high speed broadband and telephone provider in US under the XFINITY brand. It is the largest cable and broadcasting company in the world by revenue. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, it employs over 100,000 employees nationwide with a goal of providing best customer experience. It handles an internet traffic of 6TB/second which includes 142+ phone calls completed, 12M+ voicemails received, 136M+ emails delivered. In 1963, Ralph J. Roberts along with his business partners, Daniel Aaron and Julian A. Brodsky purchased American Cable Systems from its parent, Jerrold Electronics for a price of US$500,000. In 1969, the company was renamed as Comcast Corporation where the…show more content…
Vertical integration is a specific type of arrangement in which the large portion of supply chains is under a common ownership. So, it included the combination of video producer i.e. NBC and video distributor i.e. Comcast. Horizontal integration is a strategy in which company acquires production units for outputs which are alike. So, horizontal integration implies the addition of NBC’s programming such as Bravo, CNBC and others to Comcast’s programming like E!, Golf and others; Another major thing regarding horizontal integration is the addition of NBC’s broadcasting station to Comcast’s video network. By the acquisition of NBC by Comcast, Comcast became the largest multichannel video programming distributor in the United States with 24.2 million subscribers. As, Comcast was heavily involved in cable television and internet services in many media markets, attaining vertical integration by acquiring NBC seemed to be a ‘sound’ strategy. However, the deal was subjected to scrutiny from activists and government officials; their potential concern being the potential effects that his vertical integration could create. Potential

More about Comcast Vertical Integration

Open Document