business

NEW YORK - General Electric has reached a tentative agreement that clears the way for the sale of NBC Universal, including the flagship NBC network, to Comcast, according to people briefed on negotiations.

General Electric has reached a tentative agreement to buy Vivendi's 20 percent stake in NBC Universal for about $5.8 billion, clearing the way for GE to sell control of the television and movie company to Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, in a deal that reflects the changing landscape of broadcast television.

While a deal between GE and Comcast still could hit a snag over price, it is considered highly likely because GE wants to sell NBC because of rising losses, and Comcast wants to buy it so it can control more television programs and movies to offer viewers through its cable systems.

The final threads may take days to sew up, according to these people who requested anonymity because the deal is not complete.

In the proposed deal, Comcast will contribute its own cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and the E Entertainment channel, and a modest amount of cash -- about $5 billion -- to a joint venture in which it will own 51 percent. GE will retain a 49 percent stake, and would likely reduce its ownership over several years.

In its size and melding of distribution of content and distribution, the proposed deal resembles the failed merger of Time Warner and AOL. If Steve Case, the former head of AOL, was the public face of the failed Time Warner-AOL merger, the last big deal that combined content and distribution, the public face of this deal could well be Jay Leno.

Leno had long ruled late-night television as host of "The Tonight Show," one of the network's strongholds, along with its morning show and news division. In a bold move, Jeffrey Zucker, the head of NBC Universal, moved Leno into the 10 p.m. slot, clearing the way for Conan O'Brien at 11:30 and radically remaking prime time.

But so far the move has only produced lackluster ratings and a poor lead-in to local news, further exacerbating NBC's problems in prime time.

The deal is a bet by Comcast on how it can grow its business. It could use its power in film, with Universal Studios, to expand video-on-demand offerings by altering movie release windows to make movies available on VOD the same day they are released on DVD, noted analyst Craig Moffett.

The broad parameters of the deal between GE and Comcast had been in place for weeks, but the deal couldn't be completed until a separate negotiation between GE and Vivendi was completed. Vivendi, the French conglomerate, had owned 20 percent of NBC Universal, a remnant of the 2003 deal in which it sold Universal Studios and the cable networks USA and Syfy to GE.