What does the NBC/Comcast deal mean for the future?

Thursday we expect to see the official announcement of the NBC Universal acquisition by Comcast. There are many that don't understand the acquisition and speculate why Comcast is the lone company bidding on NBC at a time when most other media holding companies are selling assets or splitting them into pieces.

I believe there is a huge opportunity that Comcast is taking advantage of. NBC is a steal at $6 Billion in cash + stock valued at another $7B for a 51% stake and control of the business. Comcast will now have the ability to leverage the vast movie and TV assets across the growing number of distribution platforms. Pushing content to consumers through any channel they want, video-on-demand, streaming, DVD or mobile.

Comcast is going to innovate how content is produced and distributed to consumers dramatically improving the types of interactive content that is available and increase the speed to market for blockbuster movies. The consumer should win in this scenario unless Comcast forgets to put the consumer first.