(Reuters) -Comcast on Thursday named the members to the first board of Versant Media Group, its planned spinoff that will take over a bulk of NBCUniversal’s cable networks, including USA Network, CNBC and MSNBC.
The board will include Versant CEO Mark Lazarus, Chairman David Novak and eight other members with backgrounds spanning artificial intelligence, corporate governance and dealmaking.
The spinoff is expected to be completed this year. Once it is finalized, Comcast plans to appoint Rebecca Campbell, Creighton Condon, Michael Conway and David Eun to the board.
Campbell is a former Disney executive, Condon is a senior lawyer at A&O Shearman, Conway is former CEO, Starbucks North America, and Eun is a founding adviser to startup Kanza AI.
The board will also include Gerald Hassell, former CEO of BNY Mellon, Scott Mahoney, CEO of Peter Millar, Maritza Montiel, former vice chair of Deloitte, and Len Potter, founder of Wildcat Capital Management.
Versant will house iconic brands including Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel, along with digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and SportsEngine.
Comcast’s move reflects a broader industry shift as legacy cable businesses face pressure from cord-cutting and digital disruption. The company said the assets making up Versant generate about $7 billion in annual revenue.
Warner Bros Discovery announced plans in June to split into two public companies, separating its streaming and studio assets from its declining cable TV networks to sharpen its focus in the streaming era.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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