Paris ? General Electric Co.’s NBC emerged the winner Tuesday of a tortuous, months-long contest for the entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal, which include a major movie studio, three cable channels, a television studio and several theme parks.

NBC and Vivendi said they intended to combine the assets into a new company, which would most likely be called NBC Universal, though a final deal has yet to be worked out. The companies expect to complete the last phase of talks by the end of the month.

A merger, should it come to pass, would create a major media player with $13 billion in annual revenues that would include NBC’s television network, an array of cable networks like MSNBC, CNBC, USA and Sci-Fi, and Universal Pictures, whose recent films include “Seabiscuit” and “The Hulk.”

It also would unite Universal Television, the studio behind the popular program “Law and Order,” with the network that airs it in the United States: NBC.

For NBC, the deal would give the network more heft in an industry dominated by titanic companies like AOL Time Warner Inc. and Viacom Inc., which owns MTV and CBS. NBC has been the only major network not owned by a larger media conglomerate.

For Vivendi, the deal offers an opportunity to trim back debts, which totaled $13 billion at the end of July. Vivendi had hoped to fetch about $14 billion for the Universal assets. A deal with GE would leave Vivendi as a European mobile phone and cable TV service provider with a minority stake in a big U.S. entertainment company.

For GE, the deal would extend its realm into Hollywood movies and theme parks while strengthening its NBC brand.