At an investor day for Versant (VSNT), the upcoming TV networks spin-off from Comcast (CMCSA), an executive team led by CEO Mark Lazarus detailed their expectations that the company is well-positioned to pursue growth, contradicting the impressions of industry bears, who often characterize legacy media as a caretaker business in decline.
Versant (VSNT) is set to formally spin off from Comcast in early January, and it will contain most of what was NBCUniversal’s cable networks and related digital operations — including CNBC, MS NOW (the former MSNBC), Golf Channel, and a portfolio of entertainment brands including USA Network, Oxygen, E, Syfy and more.
Such a divestment is the latest in a growing movement from the owners of legacy TV networks to rearrange holdings, amid a secular decline in subscribers paired with the growth of streaming networks and cord-cutting behavior.
“I spent my entire career in media; that’s some 40 years,” Lazarus said. “In that time, I’ve been a disruptor. I’ve been disrupted. And I know that this is an incredibly interesting time and a challenging time for our industry. We are certainly aware of the trends, but it’s also a time of great opportunity.”
“Versant (VSNT) has a unique set of assets, a dedicated leadership team, and we are prepared to defy expectations — be innovators in the markets that we serve,” he added. “This is a company with a mandate to build beyond cable, in fact, beyond media, and we are ready to transform and positioning ourselves to win.”
What the spin-off looks like
Lazarus noted that viewers watched 14 billion hours of Versant content in 2024, with 65 million households watching its networks monthly, and 140 million transactions processed per year for consumers by its digital properties (including reservation systems for golf tee times and movie tickets via its Fandango/Rotten Tomatoes brands).
Splitting some key Versant financials off from Comcast, he estimated Versant would have earned $6.6B in revenue in 2025, along with $2.2B in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (at a 33% margin), and $1.4B in free cash flow (at a 64% conversion rate).
Of particular interest to investors, Lazarus noted CNBC plays in a $20B market for business/personal finance news, with an audience of 107 million retail investors (up 40% since 2019).
Overall, the online business/financial news audience has risen 25% since 2021, the company noted.
Live programming
In a TV universe that has shifted sharply toward streaming entertainment in the past decade, news and live sports are the last bastions of key live programming, and the company noted that its audience breakdown in 2024 came to 38% for Entertainment, 62% Live News and Sports.
That percentage of audience for Live News and Sports is second only to Fox’s 94%, Versant noted, and ahead of Disney’s (DIS) 57% and NBCUniversal’s 54%, as well as 25% for Paramount (PSKY), 20% for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), and less than 1% for Netflix (NFLX).
Key to the live approach are particular Versant brands: CNBC (with a global monthly reach of 501M); MS NOW (with an average audience of 0.8M, vs. Fox News’ 1.4M); and the Golf Channel (Golf viewing on that channel and USA Network totaled 467M hours in 2024).
“We will operate in four large, growing markets: business news and personal finance, political news and opinion, golf and athletics participation, and sports and genre entertainment,” Lazarus said. “And what you’ll see is that in every single one of these we have a beloved brand, very large and loyal audiences, financial scale, powerful digital platforms that take us beyond television — and in many cases, beyond media.”
Aiming for growth, not just slower shrinkage
“Versant’s competitive advantage is clear: We are not stuck in old media. We are being unleashed to grow further and grow our businesses beyond the bundle,” Lazarus said. “Our mission is to expand beyond the multi-channel universe. And these vertical markets all have significant opportunities. In fact, one of our definitions of Versant is vertically ascendant, and we are well on our way.”
The company highlighted a three-part growth strategy: 1) Win with premium content; 2) Reach new audiences (add non-pay-TV viewers, and expand live events and audio experiences); and 3) Launch and scale digital platforms (including growing GolfNow and Fandango, and developing new platforms.
Seeking Alpha contributor WideAlpha has delved into details around the Versant spin-off, including an expected valuation around $10 billion and an enterprise value-to-EBITDA multiple below peers like Fox and Paramount Skydance.