General Electric, the American conglomerate, has reached an agreement in principal with Vivendi, the media group, to buy the French company’s 20 per cent in NBC Universal for $5.8 billion (£3.5 billion), according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The long-awaited deal, expected to be announced on Wednesday or Thursday of this week, would clear the way for GE, which already owns 80 per cent of NBC Universal, to pass control of the entertainment group to Comcast, the largest cable company in the United States.

It would give Comcast a 51 per cent stake in NBC Universal, the owner of television networks including NBC, USA Network and Bravo, along with local television stations, theme parks and a film studio.

Controlling the new company would give Comcast better access to the television programmes and films it shows on its cable channels and enable it to expand ts video-on-demand service.

GE initially would hold 49 per cent in the new venture, but may reduce its stake over time.

Valuing Comcast’s cable networks, Vivendi’s 20 per cent stake in NBC Universal and the proposed new company itself had been a key issue in negotiations between the two companies for some weeks.

Agreement was reached after a meeting in France last week between Jeffrey Immelt, the GE chief executive, and Jean-Bernard Lévy, the Vivendi chief executive.

The sale would give GE, America’s largest conglomerate, a welcome cash injection.

It has owned NBC Universal since the 1986 acquisition of RCA and has expanded it through the acquisitions of Bravo, Telemundo and the 2004 transaction with Vivendi, which brought theme parks, a movie studio and cable networks.

But GE, whose products range from jet engines to microwave ovens, has been under pressure for some time from many of its shareholders to offload NBC Universal, whose media and leisure businesses are considered misfits among its otherwise mostly industrial operations.

NBC Universal reported a 27 per cent drop in profit for the nine months to September.

The company’s television stations have suffered a steep drop in advertising revenue and Universal Pictures has been struggling at the box office.

The Universal Studios theme parks in Florida, California and Japan have suffered because of the economic downturn.

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