As expected, Comcast on Thursday announced that it has brokered a deal with General Electric to acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal (NBCU) for $6.5 billion.

The arrangement puts the value of NBCU at $30 billion. As part of the deal, GE will acquire Vivendi's 20 percent stake in NBCU for $5.8 billion, putting GE's stake at 49 percent. Comcast will make its $6.5 billion payment to GE.

The deal includes: NBCU's businesses, Comcast's cable networks, regional sports networks, and certain digital properties, Comcast said. NBCU will contribute its cable properties like MSNBC, broadcast stations NBC and Telemundo, the Universal movie studio and theme parks.

The combined entities will be known as the Comcast Entertainment Group (CEG), which will stand alongside Comcast Cable. Jeff Zucker, current president and CEO of NBCU, will be CEO of the new joint venture and will report to Steve Burke, Comcast's chief operating officer.

"Consumers of all of our products - on screens large and small - will have the benefit of enhanced content and experiences, delivered to them in new and better ways as a result of this transaction," Zucker said in a statement.

The joint venture "will bring together Comcast's cable programming networks (including our regional sports networks), Fandango and Daily Candy with the broadcasting, cable programming, movie studio, theme park, and online content businesses of NBC Universal," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts wrote in a blog post.

The combination "will create a base from which all of these content assets will grow in quality," Roberts wrote. "The new venture will facilitate the launch of new content as well as innovative distribution opportunities through multiple platforms in and out of the home."

Reaction to the deal was swift and varied.

Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the Senate Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee, pledged to hold a public hearing "so that consumers can get a better sense of how this deal could affect their access to diverse programming and information, especially as they more often look to the Internet for such services."

Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, also pledged to "monitor that process closely" given that the deal is "extremely significant in scope and raises some complex questions."

Free Press, which filed a successful network management complaint against Comcast at the Federal Communications Commission, joined forces with the Consumer Federation of America to write a white paper on why the Comcast-NBCU deal poses a "major threat to video competition that would seriously harm the public interest."

Among their concerns is NBC's interest in Hulu. "A merged company would have a powerful motive to starve competing online video sources by denying them access to vital content," they said.

Several free market think tanks were less concerned.

"Simply put, the deal raises no general antitrust or diversity issue," said Ken Ferree, a senior fellow at the Progress and Freedom Foundation. "Comcast is primarily a distribution company, not a content company like NBCU. And to the extent that programming withholding ever becomes an issue in an individual market, such conduct can be addressed on a case-by-case basis."

Randolph May, president of the Free Station Foundation, said the merger should receive scrutiny, but was skeptical about antitrust concerns. "This 'media concentration' wolf done cried a few too many times to be scary anymore," he said.

Comcast, GE, and NBCU will hold a press conference at 10:30am Eastern time. Check back on AppScout and pcmag.com for updates.