Comcast Co-CEO Brian Roberts sought to downplay the scenario that the media giant will be primed for dealmaking once it splits into two companies next year.

“Absolutely not,” Roberts said in response to the M&A question during an investor call this morning. “This is the right move to put each company in the strongest position to create value, fully monetize its assets and aggressively pursue its own or grant or organic growth strategies.”

Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh, who will lead the NBCUniversal-Sky entity after the split, added, “Definitely not. Our plan for NBCUniversal and Sky is to build and invest for growth. We have the ambition, that’s big, to pursue opportunities that keep us ahead of evolving consumer behavior … and we have the freedom now to explore adjacent businesses.”

Early Monday, the company announced the game-changing move to split into two companies. One, consisting of NBCUniversal and Sky, will be focused on entertainment content. The other, with Comcast’s pay-TV, broadband and wireless systems, will be a distribution entity. Comcast’s acquisition of NBC was finalized in 2011 and tested the theory of combining distribution and content into a single company. Similar entities, like AT&T after it digested Time Warner, have stumbled in trying to blend distribution with content. Fox Corp.’s recently announced deal to acquire Roku has resurfaced the concept.

“This is not about separating what we built together,” Roberts said. “It’s about positioning two exceptional businesses to move forward with greater focus, agility, and the ability to fully capitalize on the opportunities ahead.”

Comcast, which acquired Sky for $40 billion in 2018, took an unsuccessful run at Warner Bros. Discovery last year, losing out initially to Netflix before Paramount ultimately prevailed. With flagship streamer Peacock only now turning a profit and still notably smaller than many rival services, speculation has grown about Comcast potentially trying to pull off more M&A maneuvers.

Instead of an open Q&A period, the 20-minute call featured CFO Jason Armstrong reading select questions submitted earlier by Wall Street analysts.

If anyone had asked about Sky’s pending acquisition of ITV, the question was not read aloud during the call. The transaction, which should close in the next couple of weeks, will see Sky buy the UK commercial broadcaster for £1.6B, a move that will reshape British broadcasting.

Roberts did say, however, that moving Sky in with the NBCU media holdings will “increase the ways in which we can partner with other players in the global media ecosystem.”

Speaking to the logic of moving Sky to NBCUniversal over the Comcast tech unit (the Sky business does both), Roberts said Sky is a “natural fit” with NBCUniversal because “at its core it is a premium media and entertainment business with one of the most powerful consumer brands, news, sport and a strong position in attractive European markets.” “Bringing it together with NBCUniversal enhances the scale and global profile of our media and entertainment company, creating more opportunities to invest in entertainment, sports and news content,” he added.

Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.

Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, and don't get your facts wrong.

Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );