Comcast takes over NBCU today

Comcast today assumes control of NBC Universal, the official name of the merged company. Yesterday, top execs hosted town hall meetings around the country to welcome their new NBCU employees. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Steve Burke, the new CEO of the merged company, addressed employees via a feed that linked them to NY, L.A. and Phildadelphia and answered questions from meeting attendees.

Staffers were told they’ll get 25 Comcast shares and a family pass to one of the Universal theme parks.

Among yesterday’s announcements: NBC’ peacock will be plucked from the corporate logo. Since NBC acquired Universal assets in 2004, the company logo was meant to signify the merged company by including NBC’s peacock and Universal’s longtime spinning planet logo.

The peacock will stay on as NBC’s on-air branding (as it has been since 1956) and the planet will continue to spin for Universal.

The new company logo is simple – white letters on a purple background. According to the AP, the space-less corporate logo is meant to represent the unity of its two main divisions. That may take some time, though, as employees wonder what its parent company’s restructuring plans are and who will stay and who will go.

The LAT points out there will be “culture shock” as Comcast takes over, particularly considering that among the new CEO’s priorities is “to reform the NBC Universal corporate culture, one that has condoned politicking and aggrandizement.”

As the new combined company kicks off in 2011, it’ll be interesting to see how or if they’ll leverage their Spanish-language assets – Telemundo and mun2.