Comcast Acquires Tribune’s Golf Stake

Comcast Corp. acquired Tribune Co.’s minority stake in The Golf Channel for a reported $100 million.

Neither Comcast nor Tribune executives could be reached by press time, but Bloomberg News reported that the deal to acquire Tribune’s 8.9% stake also gave Comcast the rights to showcase games of Major League Baseball’s Tribune-owned Chicago Cubs on startup network Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

That regional service, set to launch in late 2004, will also feature games from MLB’s Chicago White Sox, the National Hockey League’s Chicago Blackhawks and the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls.

Comcast -- which will now hold 99% of 56 million-subscriber Golf -- will also expand its carriage of Tribune’s Superstation WGN under the deal.