Comcast Is Ditching MSNBC and Other Cable Channels It Owns
Plus, Philly gets Uber XXL and our own TKTS ticketing booth.
MSNBC co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough awkwardly joking about their job future on Wednesday morning after learning of the new Comcast plan (image via MSNBC)
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Comcast Is Ditching MSNBC and Other Cable Channels It Owns
The big national news in the media and entertainment world today is that Comcast has decided to divest itself of some of its most well-known cable channels: MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen, USA, Syfy, E!, and the Golf Channel. The channels will be owned by a new corporate entity and will not affect Comcast’s balance sheet, an active concern when cord-cutting has become such a prevailing trend.
A Comcast executive wrote in an internal memo that the action will allow Comcast to focus on and invest more in other areas of its business. Comcast will hold on to NBC, Bravo (don’t worry: your Real Housewives aren’t going anywhere), and its Peacock streaming service.
MSNBC co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough awkwardly joked about their job future on Wednesday morning, given the news of the day.
For the full story on Comcast’s plan, go to the Wall Street Journal, which broke the news.
Direct from New York
Starting on Thursday, Philadelphia will have its own TKTS booth, the famed New York City ticketing booth that offers last-minute discounts to live performances. Participating venues and groups include the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Wilma and Arden theaters and Ballet X. The booth will be at Independence Visitor Center at 6th and Market streets. Expect discounts of up to 50 percent.
When Uber XL Just Isn’t Big Enough…
You can now request Uber XXL. The new service is designed to provide passengers flying in and out of Philadelphia International Airport with plenty of trunk space for all that luggage.
By the Numbers
5 percent: Wage increase for SEPTA’s city drivers in a tentative agreement between SEPTA and the union representing those drivers. So it sounds like your city buses, trolleys, and subway will keep running just fine. As for those in the burbs, that negotiation is ongoing. But Regional Rail trains would remain unaffected, in any event.
$600,000: What it will cost you to buy Muhammad Ali’s former home in the Greenhill Farms section of West Philly, just off City Avenue. Bonus: Kobe Bryant once lived there. It’s currently owned by Bryant’s grandmother. You’ll want to replace the hideous carpets. But otherwise, I see a lot of possibilities.
13: Years since fellow boxing great — and Ali opponent — Joe Frazier died. And it sounds like the building that once housed his gym is in a fair amount of peril. We make a whole lot of fuss about a fake boxer and his movie prop-statue but can’t preserve Joe Frazier’s old gym?
Local Talent
I know I was just telling you yesterday about Grammy-nominated Quakertown native Sabrina Carpenter and her upcoming Netflix Christas musical special, featuring our own Quinta Brunson of Abbott Elementary fame. And right after that, I learned of a new development in a scandal surrounding the pop star. Around this time last year, Carpenter came out with a pretty sexy (OK, very sexy) music video for her song “Feather,” in which she appears in various states of skimpy dress. (You can watch it here.)
The problem is that Carpenter shot some of the scenes inside a church in Brooklyn, with the permission of the priest. Many Catholics were none too happy about it. An investigation ensued. And, well, the long and short of it is that the church has now, er, stripped the priest of all of his duties. Guessing the priest won’t be saying the blessing at the Christmas special.
