NEW YORK?Comcast, the largest US cable television provider, has finally achieved its ambition of becoming a major entertainment and media player with its purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal.

A source close to the matter said late Monday that French media group Vivendi accepted $5.8 billion for its share of NBC Universal, paving the way for General Electric to sell a controlling stake in the company to Comcast.

Five years after its failed $54-billion takeover bid for The Walt Disney Co., Comcast has managed to merge movie studios and television networks with its formidable cable television and broadband distribution assets.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Comcast, which was founded in 1963, boasts 23.8 million cable television subscribers in the United States, 15.7 million high-speed Internet customers and 7.4 million digital voice customers.

Comcast operates several television channels including the "Style Network," the "Golf Channel" and "E! Entertainment Television," and is active on the Web with Fancast.com, an online video portal, movie ticketing service Fandango and online address book and social network Plaxo.

But its purchase of a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal from General Electric catapults Comcast into the elite ranks of media and entertainment providers alongside Disney, News Corp. and Time Warner.

Marrying content and distribution has had a mixed record in the past.

Time Warner recently spun off its cable television operator Time Warner Cable and News Corp. sold Direct TV, a Comcast rival, to Liberty Media.

Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association and their Philadelphia arenas.

Prior to the purchase of NBC Universal, Comcast employed some 100,000 people across the United States.

Comcast reported revenue of $34.2 billion in 2008.