Analysts say that Vivendi could be more likely to sell its NBC Universal stake to finance the GVT acquisition.
General Electric owns the other 80 percent of NBC Universal and has been negotiating to sell NBC Univerasl to Comcast, which would realize a long-held wish of Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts to own a major entertainment programmer.
Roberts previously failed in an unsolicited bid for the Walt Disney Co.
Comcast did not comment today. General Electric also had not comment.
The complex Comcast-NBC Universal deal is contingent on Vivendi selling its stake back to GE, which would like to focus on its core industrial businesses.
Vivendi has until mid-December to make a decision and some believe the French company is holding out for a higher price for its 20 percent stake. Vivendi has valued the NBC Universal stake for $6.3 billion on its balance sheet.
A Vivendi spokesman has said the French company is in "no hurry" to sell its stake in NBC Universal while the company top executive Jean-Bernard Levy has said its not a core asset.
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