United States’ media, telecoms and technology behemoth Comcast will split into two publicly traded companies through a spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky, separating its cash-generating broadband arm from a media and entertainment business under pressure from streaming rivals and industry consolidation.

Comcast’s decision to spin off its NBCUniversal and Sky businesses marks the latest effort by a major US entertainment company to separate or reshape legacy television assets as cord-cutting accelerates and streaming ‌ upends the industry, Reuter reports stated yesterday.

The move follows years of sweeping strategic overhauls across the sector, with companies pursuing mergers, breakups, asset sales and lowered spending to sharpen focus and compete more effectively in an increasingly digital media landscape.

The proposed separation will create one company anchored by Comcast’s cable, wireless and business services arm and another built around Universal theme parks, film and TV studios, NBC, Peacock and the European media business Sky.

It unwinds 15 years of consolidation at the company that brought together content and distribution, with both feeling the strain from the rapid rise of streaming, and sets up the two companies for more deals.

It also alters the legacy of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, who stormed the media world in 2011 when he bought NBCUniversal in a deal that valued the entertainment giant at nearly $40 billion.

Since then, cord-cutting has eroded profits of the cable TV business of legacy media players, forcing them to seek scale to better compete with streaming giant Netflix. Paramount won a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery in February with its $110 billion bid to create an industry giant.

Comcast, which leans on cable for much of its cash flow, is also losing broadband customers to fixed wireless offerings from US carriers such as T-Mobile and Verizon and to fiber rivals that are aggressively building out networks.

“The transaction we are announcing will unlock a more entrepreneurial management approach and open up a multitude of new opportunities for each business,” Roberts said.

Roberts, whose father Ralph founded Comcast in 1963, will remain “actively involved” in leading both companies after the split. He controls about a third of Comcast’s voting power through super-voting shares, a grip likely to carry over since NBCUniversal will retain the same dual-class structure.

Comcast Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh will run the new NBCUniversal, while Michael Angelakis, a former chief financial officer, will return to lead Comcast as CEO, after initially joining as a strategic adviser ahead of the separation.

Shareholders of the cable and media giant will own stock in both companies after the tax-free separation closes, expected to happen in a year.

Comcast will keep a stake of as much as 19.9 percent in NBCUniversal for up to a year following the spinoff, which it plans to monetize over time. Comcast will hold a town hall with employees to discuss the split, an internal memo seen by Reuters showed.