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The poor performance of NBC Universal (GE) has offset the projections of growth that General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt had made for the company.

As a result, there has been growing pressure to sell the company by shareholders and analysts.

Right now NBC Universal accounts for almost 10 percent of the total GE revenue, bringing in $16.2 billion last year. The overall revenue of GE was $163.4 billion.

GE's share price rose to their highest level in 4 months based upon Citigroup Inc. analysts saying the company should spin off NBC Universal, GE Money and the real-estate division. That alone shows what the growing consensus is.

As far as NBC Universal, Robert Spremulli, an analyst at TIAA- CREF in New York said "General Electric may want to wait to see how the media sector develops as an industry before it decides to divest NBC Universal."

Nicholas Heymann of Prudential Equity Group Inc. added that there's the possibility that Google (GOOG) might be interested in purchasing NBC Universal to keep with its strategy of expanding its "mix of media offerings."

This is a difficult call for Immelt and the board. If NBC Universal doesn't take off and they sell it, the decision would look premature and disastrous. On the other hand if they hold it and it continues to plunge in value, many will say the reason is because it wasn't gotten rid of.

I think they'll hold it for maybe another season to see what happens. If the leadership isn't able to start producing hits and making more money, I think the pressure will increase to the point where something will have to be done.

To me they probably have one more year to right the ship if they want to stay in the GE fold.