NBC News’s corporate parent, Comcast, appears to be extending an olive branch to President Trump with a donation to the new ballroom he is building at the White House. At the same time, the media conglomerate is trying to distance itself from left-wing MSNBC, which it is spinning off into a separate company.
The ballroom is expected to cost about $300 million. However, President Trump says its construction is being funded by private donations and will not come at taxpayers’ expense. Some of the donors include the country’s biggest technology corporations, such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta. Comcast is the only traditional media company to contribute, although the amount of its donation has not been publicly disclosed.
Comcast is believed to be eyeing an acquisition of all or parts of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the parent company of CNN, which earlier this week indicated it is open to a sale. Paramount Skydance, led by David Ellison—the son of Trump supporter Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man—has already bid twice for WBD but was turned down. According to Wall Street analysts, the Ellisons are currently seen as the favorites to acquire WBD.
However, Comcast, a deep-pocketed “dark horse,” has much to lose if Paramount and WBD merge into a media giant comparable to Disney. An acquisition of WBD would likely require approval from the Trump Administration.
Veteran media reporter Matthew Belloni recently discussed the potential WBD sale. His guest, Peter Supino, managing director of Wolfe Research, noted that Comcast is spinning off its cable companies, including MSNBC, under a new company called Versant, and questioned whether Comcast would want to buy cable companies. Supino also suggested that Comcast may be interested in acquiring WBD’s streaming service, HBO Max, to better compete with Netflix, Amazon, and Apple.
Belloni added, “The problem they have is the Trump stuff. Trump hates them. He blames them for MSNBC, even though that’s being spun off. He’s investigating their DEI policies.”
“I did see that Comcast made a very nice donation to the new ballroom at the White House that Trump is building, so maybe that is the overture to try to get on his good side,” Belloni said. “But if there was announced a merger of the companies that own CNN and MSNBC, Donald Trump would go nuts.”
President Trump has routinely criticized Comcast and its CEO, Brian Roberts, for what he perceives as a steady stream of critical coverage. In April, Trump suggested that Comcast’s decision to spin off MSNBC was an attempt to avoid a lawsuit from him.
“Comcast, which also has the ailing network known as NBC, is trying to stay away from lawsuits by disassociating NBC from MSNBC, but it won’t work,” Trump said on Truth Social. “Comcast, the owner of both, and its Chairman, Brian Roberts, are a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting!!!”
Trump has also urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to revoke NBC’s broadcast license. In August, he said ABC and NBC are “two of the worst and most biased networks in history,” claiming that “97 percent” of their coverage consists of “bad stories” about his administration.
“If that is the case, they are simply an arm of the Democrat Party and should, according to many, have their licenses revoked by the FCC. I would be totally in favor of that because they are so biased and untruthful, an actual threat to our Democracy!!!” he wrote.
Of the three major broadcast networks frequently producing anti-Trump and anti-MAGA content—ABC, NBC, and CBS—only NBC has avoided a lawsuit from Trump, despite his warnings.
In December, ABC paid $16 million to settle Trump’s defamation lawsuit after host George Stephanopoulos falsely and repeatedly said the president had been “found liable for rape.” Trump also threatened to sue ABC again after it reinstated late-night host Jimmy Kimmel following a roughly week-long suspension for comments about the person accused of shooting Charlie Kirk.
CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, agreed to pay $16 million in July to settle Trump’s defamation lawsuit over its editing of Vice President Harris’s “60 Minutes” interview.
Some left-wing journalists and scholars speculated that Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount was held up by the FCC until Trump’s lawsuit was resolved. Both Paramount and the FCC have publicly stated that the two matters were unrelated.
While NBC is facing investigations into its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and treatment of local stations, it has not yet had to decide whether to settle lawsuits or endure costly, prolonged legal battles.
Besides spinning off MSNBC and stripping the liberal network of the famous peacock logo and the “NBC” portion of its name to distance itself, Comcast appears to be taking steps to placate the Trump Administration.
Last week, NBC News came under fire after announcing it was cutting 150 jobs. A source told The Wrap the cuts “did not target specific teams and were driven by the network’s budget and the desire to streamline its editorial efforts.” However, the cuts did target NBC News’s diversity verticals, including NBC BLK (focusing on Black communities), NBC Asian America, NBC Latino, and NBC OUT (focusing on LGBTQ+ issues).
Liberal social media users accused the network of becoming “MAGA state media” and trying to appease the Trump Administration.
While Comcast has made some moves that appear to be overtures toward the Trump Administration, NBC News has retained several of its most liberal journalists, such as far-left White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, who frequently challenges Trump and his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, with liberal talking points.
Additionally, MSNBC’s liberal data expert Steve Kornacki, anti-Trump “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, and weekend “Nightly News” host Jose Diaz Balart—a fierce critic of Trump’s immigration policies who also works for Telemundo—are staying post-separation.
NBCNews.com, which will still be controlled by NBC News after the spin-off of MSNBC and CNBC, continues to produce coverage that is critical of Trump and Israel.
As of publication, Comcast has not responded to The Sun’s request for comment.
https://www.nysun.com/article/comcast-donates-trumps-white-house-ballroom-good-side-cuts-ties-msnbc
