Maybe Robert can create a new link to a new page here for the ever changing park owners….
There is a lot of money and politics involved with television, and some things would likely have to happen before TV completely goes the way of online. Those things would include regulation of the internet (please God no), and all businesses involved (tv stations, cable companies, studios, equipment manufacturers...etc) figuring a way to replace the piles of money that would eminently be lost with a simple switch to complete internet streaming.
I don't think that it's as much about "future planning" as it is about making more money while keeping their prices competitive in the present. It's fair to say that Comcast the cable company (and most other big cable companies) have hit the ceiling in terms of organic growth, and that the product can only grow by swallowing up other companies and charging their customers more. With content, Comcast has figured out a way to grow, and also to compound the money it already makes from it's product while keeping prices down. Not only does it own the content, but also the medium in which said content is distributed. If TV does become obsolete, Comcast already distributes the replacement...the internet.
Let's just hope that the theme park division is a priority, and that Comcast doesn't bring their much maligned customer service to Universal.
Face it, a typical bigwig's kids and grandkids don't care about spending the week at some fat cat golf resort. But spending the week at Universal Orlando? (Or Disney World?) Now that's cool. Kids whine about what they don't like and gush about what they do. That influences the bosses, too.
Now, will the Comcast management team learn enough about theme parks to retain a top parks management, marketing and creative team? There's your billion-dollar-plus question.
"The only issue is when television and internet (which Comcast also provides) become obsolete like the printed newspaper has."
Uhh... Derek? What do you think the HDTV and other content travels over to get to whoever's receiving it? In many cases, the Internet.
How do you think requests for web content gets to a server which supplies it? And how do you think that content comes back to the requester? That's right. The Internet.
The 'net itself, or at least the possibilities afforded by having a massive global data network, will never become "obsolete." The means we use to access it may change, what comes to us and goes from us will likely change, but the basic idea of interconnection (networking, if you like) has existed since the Stone Age, and will likely continue to exist long after we've gone to dust.
The web is merely an application running on top of the Internet, just like E-mail, instant messaging, VoIP, and all the other assorted 1's and 0's shooting all over the place (including, unfortunately, spam).
Happy travels.
I still think the Marvel deal is a bigger blow to Universal than Comcast buying NBC/Universal. In fact, I venture it would be better since I am guessing Comcast has a bit more of a clue about entertainment then, well GE who is pretty much good in everything else.
There goes some of the jokes on 30 rock with Jack's microwaves!