About one year after abandoning its effort to become the uber-dominant distributor in the country when it walked away from its $67 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable, Comcast has turned its attention to programming, with its NBCUniversal unit's $3.8 billion deal to buy DreamWorks Animation, a move that will help boost its content library while potentially seeding its theme park business with new characters to build attractions around.

In DreamWorks Animation, NBCUniversal gets access to a film library that includes Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon, as well as a growing TV production arm that has churned out programming like Dawn of the Croods, Turbo and more for Netflix and other distributors. In NBCU, DreamWorks Animation finally gets the deep-pocketed parent that can help it produce more films and, with its cable and broadcast networks, provide another outlet for content.

Reaction to the deal was mixed. DreamWorks stock soared 24% (up $7.75 each) on April 28 to $39.95 per share, while Comcast shares fell 15 cents each (down 0.24%) to $61.15 per share.

Some analysts criticized the deal as being too pricey – it represents a 50% premium to DreamWorks’s stock price before rumors of a sale began to surface. Others said the benefits included additional theme park revenue from high-profile attractions and potential cost-savings on the animation side. NBCUniversal’s animation arm – Illumination Entertainment, under which DreamWorks would fall after the deal closed – farms out production of most of its animated movies to Japanese companies for a third of the price that DreamWorks pays.

“[T]o us, this deal makes a lot of sense, less because of the added animation heft to Illumination Entertainment (the studio that created The Minions) but more for what it could mean for the Universal Theme Parks,” Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan wrote in a note to clients. “It's easy to imagine a Shrek, Kung Fu Panda or Madagascar ride at the Universal parks."

BTIG Research media analyst Rich Greenfield took another approach, arguing in a blog post that DreamWorks has been on the block for at least three years, hasn’t traded above $40 per share since 2010 (the Comcast deal values the shares at $42 each) and has no other potential bidders besides NBCU.

“While we believe Comcast acquiring DWA is a mistake, [Comcast chairman and CEO] Brian Roberts clearly believes the acquisition is a good use of Comcast’s capital,” Greenfield wrote.

The analyst added that what could be attractive to Comcast is DreamWorks's 51% stake in Awesomeness TV, but said he believes that is overvalued, too – Verizon bought a 24.5% stake in the short-form video company earlier last month for about $159 million. And Verizon plans to develop content with AwesomenessTV for its go90 mobile video service, a potential Comcast competitor.

“DreamWorks will help us grow our film, television, theme parks and consumer products businesses for years to come,” NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said in a statement. “… The prospects for our future together are tremendous.”

DreamWorks will be headed by Illumination Entertainment CEO Christopher Meledandri, wile current CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg will become chairman of a new digital arm – DreamWorks New Media, comprisig the company’s ownership interests in Awesomeness TV and NOVA. Katzenberg will also serve as a consultant to NBCUniversal.

Comcast, a little more than a year after abandoning its purchase of Time Warner Cable, has apparently turned its sights to programming, and is reportedly in talks to purchase DreamWorks Animation for more than $3 billion, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal offered few details, but noted that talks could break down at any point. The purchase price would be a healthy premium to DreamWorks Animation’s current $2.3 billion market value.

Investors were pleased with the news – DreamWorks Animation stock was up about 18 % ($5.03 each) in early trading Wednesday, to $32.15 per share.

DreamWorks Animation is headed by former Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and has had box office hits like Madagascar, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda. On television, the studio produces animated programming for Netflix like Turbo, Dawn of the Croods and DinoTrux.

Comcast owns Universal Studios, which has its own animation unit, producing features like Despicable Me and Minions.

DreamWorks has a spotty history on treh merger front. In September 2014 its stock soared more than 25% after reports surfaced that it was in discussions with Japanese wireless carrier Softbank in a deal that was worth about $3.4 billion. That deal ever materialized.  A few months later toymaker Hasbro was reportedly in talks with the studio, but squashed that deal after its stock fell sharply and merchandising partner The Walt Disney Co. privately expressed displeasure.

In 2015, DreamWorks Animation laid off about 500 workers (about 19% of total employees) as it focused more on movies.   

According to a report in the New York Times, the most recent talks would involve a combination of DWA with Comcast’s own animation division Illumination Entertainment. Illumination chief Christopher Meledandri would likely head the combined unit, with DreamWorks Animation founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg exiting. Katzenberg could receive an exit package worth about $21.9 million in the event of a change of control and his involuntary termination or termination for good reason, according to DWA’s most recent proxy statement.

On a conference call with analysts to discuss first quarter results, Comcast opened by saying it would not answer questions regarding deal rumors and speculation.   

While DreamWorks has had spotty success with animated movies – the latest installment of its Kung Fu Panda franchise, Kung Fu Panda 3, made $504.4 million in worldwide box office, behind the $665.7 million Kung Fu Panda 2 generated in 2011 – it also owns an interest in growing online video producer and distributor AwesomenessTV, which could be attractive to Comcast. The programmer is part of the cable operator’s “Watchable” online video offering, which launched a beta test version in September.

More as this story develops.

HBO has reached a two-year deal with comedian Mike Myers, the network said Wednesday.

The deal includes TV exclusivity and runs on projects created by Myers, although no content was revealed as part of the agreement. Myers, known mostly for movies such as Wayne’s World as well as the Shrek and Austin Powers movie franchises, recently made his directorial debut with Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, which chronicles the life of talent manager Shep Gordon.

“Mike Myers is one of the great comedy minds of this or any other era,” said Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming in a statement.  “The opportunity to collaborate with a talent of his stature is tremendously exciting.”