Versant
Headquarters at 229 West 43rd Street in New York City | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Predecessors | NBCUniversal (select business segments) |
| Founded | January 5, 2026 |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Services | |
| Owner | Brian L. Roberts (1% equity interest, 33% voting power) |
| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | versantmedia |
| 1909 | Independent Moving Pictures founded |
|---|---|
| 1912 | Universal Pictures is founded after IMP merged with smaller studios |
| 1926 | NBC is founded |
| 1928 | Walter Lantz Productions (later Universal Animation Studios) is established |
| 1943 | MCA Inc. establishes Revue Studios (later Universal Television) |
| 1963 | American Cable Systems is founded |
| 1964 | Universal Studios Hollywood opens |
| 1968 | American Cable Systems rebrands to Comcast |
| 1975 | Filmworks is founded |
| 1976 | Filmworks becomes Casablanca Record & Filmworks |
| 1980 | PolyGram renames Casablanca Record & Filmworks to PolyGram Pictures MCA Videocassette‚ Inc. (later Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) is established |
| 1983 | PolyGram Pictures closes |
| 1984 | Walter Lantz Productions' assets are sold to Universal Telemundo is founded |
| 1986 | General Electric re-purchases its former subsidiary RCA for $6.4 billion, including NBC and a stake in A&E |
| 1987 | PolyGram Movies is founded |
| 1989 | NBC relaunches Tempo Television as CNBC |
| 1990 | Universal Studios Florida opens PolyGram Movies is renamed PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting merge to form British Sky Broadcasting Universal Cartoon Studios (later Universal Animation Studios) is established |
| 1994 | DreamWorks Pictures and DreamWorks Animation are founded |
| 1995 | Seagram acquires Universal through its acquisition of MCA NBC and Microsoft replace America's Talking with MS NOW |
| 1998 | Seagram acquires PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Barry Diller purchases Universal's domestic television assets Universal Television is renamed Studios USA Television |
| 1999 | PolyGram Filmed Entertainment is folded into Universal Pictures PolyGram Video is renamed USA Home Entertainment Universal Studios Florida expands to become Universal Orlando Resort |
| 2000 | Seagram is sold to Vivendi and merged with StudioCanal to become Vivendi Universal Entertainment |
| 2001 | Grand opening of Universal Studios Japan Vivendi purchases Studios USA |
| 2002 | NBC acquires Telemundo and Bravo Studios USA assets are folded into Universal Focus Features is formed Comcast acquires AT&T Broadband for $44.5 billion |
| 2004 | GE and Vivendi merge NBC and Universal into NBCUniversal |
| 2005 | Comcast sets up a joint-venture with PBS, Sesame Workshop & HIT Entertainment to form PBS Kids Sprout Comcast & Time Warner Cable jointly acquire Adelphia Cable assets for $17.6 billion |
| 2007 | Illumination is founded |
| 2011 | Vivendi divests interest in NBCU; Comcast buys 51% of NBCU from GE, turning it into a limited liability company NBCUniversal Archives is founded Grand opening of Universal Studios Singapore |
| 2012 | NBCUniversal divests its A&E Networks minority stake |
| 2013 | Comcast buys GE's remaining 49% of NBCU Comcast/NBCU assumes full ownership of Sprout |
| 2015 | Amblin Partners is founded Grand opening of DreamWorks Tours: Shrek's Adventure! (partnership with Merlin Entertainments (currently owned by KIRKBI)) |
| 2016 | NBCU acquires DreamWorks Animation |
| 2017 | NBCU acquires a minority stake in Amblin Partners Sprout relaunches as Universal Kids (shut down) |
| 2018 | Comcast acquires Sky from 21st Century Fox |
| 2020 | NBCU launches Peacock |
| 2026 | Versant is spun off to Comcast shareholders Grand opening of Universal Kids Resort NBCU exits the first-run syndication business |
Versant Media Group, Inc., doing business as Versant (/ˈvɜːrsənt/), is an American multinational mass media company. Formed on January 5, 2026, as a spin-off of Comcast, Versant is headquartered at 229 West 43rd Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, while technical operations and master control for its networks are housed at CNBC's world headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
The company consists primarily of domestic cable networks previously owned by NBCUniversal, including USA Network, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), CNBC, Golf Channel, E!, Syfy, and Oxygen, and related digital properties (such as GolfNow, Fandango Media, and Rotten Tomatoes). The spin-off was intended to allow NBCUniversal to focus on its core film, television, streaming, and themed entertainment businesses, while allowing the divested properties to make their own further investments as a "house of brands".
NBCUniversal continues to provide advertising sales services for a period after the spin-off and sublicensed certain sports properties to Versant for continuity. Versant has established its own sports division under the USA Sports branding, while CNBC and MSNBC are editorially separate from NBC News. Ahead of the spin-off, Versant also acquired the digital multicast television network operator Free TV Networks.