Tag Archives: NBC

Nation/World, Television

Opponents of Comcast-NBCU merger speak out at hearing

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The Federal Communications Commission held a public hearing in Chicago Tuesday on the Comcast/NBC Universal merger. Free Speech Radio Network has a good overview of the hearing. I particularly liked this comment from Josh Silver of the Free Press:

He says the merger would be yet another giveaway to industry giants at the public expense:

JOSH SILVER: Policymaking at the behest of the largest companies across industries is threatening our economy, our oceans, our security and the very viability of our democracy. Just look at the ongoing recession or the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico for the most recent examples.

It’s telling that this hearing was attended by only one FCC commissioner, Michael Copps. He spoke in opposition to the merger, but industry experts expect the FCC to ultimately approve it, with conditions. Copps was interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer and made a good point:

Copps warned that other media companies would seek government approval for their own mergers if Comcast were allowed to move forward with its proposed acquisition of NBC Universal. And that, he said, could lead the nation down a dangerous path of diminished newsrooms and fewer independent voices on television.

“If you let our competitor get big, you have to let us get big” would be the attitude among Comcast’s competitors, Copps said. Control of the Internet could consolidate into the hands of a few big corporations, in a manner similar to control of radio stations across the country, he said.

Television

21 groups form coalition against Comcast-NBCU merger

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Bloomberg, Parents Television Council, National Organization of Women, Writer’s Guild of America, Free Press, and sixteen other groups have banded together to oppose the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger. They call themselves The Coalition for Competition in Media. Here’s a full-page ad they recently placed in the Chicago Sun-Times:

The deal is still being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. More information on the coalition, including reaction from Comcast, can be found in Bloomberg Businessweek (click here).

Television

NBC restricts online Olympic coverage to cable subscribers

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I went to NBC’s official web page for Olympic coverage, hoping to see a replay of some of the events. Well, it turns out you can only watch those replays if you’re a cable subscriber–and not just a basic cable subscriber, either. So NBC, even before being purchased by cable giant Comcast, is now making certain web content basically an extension of expanded cable service. No use trying to watch other countries’ coverage. They block you out based on your IP’s country of origin.

What a bust. If I had expanded cable service, why would I need to watch the content on the Internet? Why can’t they offer Olympic content like they do all their other shows — sprinkled with commercials here and there to get the revenue they need? Why the need to tie the coverage to payment of a monthly fee to a cable company, denying access to over-the-air viewers and those whose cable companies don’t have a “partnership” with NBC? Even if you do have a cable subscription, you still have to go through an authentication process that is irritating in itself.

If I wasn’t already soured on NBC enough after the whole Conan fiasco, I certainly have no use for the network now. I’m sure they’ll be back in fourth place again after the Olympics anyway.

Television

Leno’s effect on WEEK’s late news “minimal”

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I don’t generally cover entertainment news on my blog, but for whatever reason, I’ve been obsessed lately with the whole Tonight Show debacle on NBC.

As you probably know, Jay Leno left The Tonight Show last year and Conan O’Brien took over. Then NBC tried putting Jay Leno on a comedy show at 9 p.m. leading into the news — and it bombed. It was so cheap to produce that NBC was still able to make money even though the ratings were terrible. However, the terrible ratings hurt local affiliates because if people aren’t watching Jay at 9, they don’t watch that station’s news at 10. So affiliates demanded that NBC cancel The Jay Leno Show and go back to scripted programming that will bring in more viewers who will carry over to the late local news.

That got me wondering: how has this affected our local NBC affiliate, WEEK-TV 25? I asked the station’s general manager Mark DeSantis. He said local Peoria stations don’t subscribe to Nielsen, but they’re able to gauge viewership by information they receive from national advertising firms. DeSantis says that “while the average national decline in prime and late newscasts for NBC affiliates was in the 30% range, WEEK sustained less than a 10% decline with Leno at 9pm.” In short, “The effect on our late news was minimal.”

Unlike other affiliates who complained to NBC about the 9 o’clock programming, “WEEK made no demand of the network that Leno be cancelled.” But like many observers, DeSantis felt it was a “serious mistake” for the network to take Leno off The Tonight Show in the first place. Now, of course, NBC is trying to put the genie back in the bottle — that is, they’re trying to put Leno back at 10:35, much to Conan’s displeasure. DeSantis believes NBC has “mishandled the announcement” of that decision, “making this issue a real mess for all concerned.”

But he isn’t taking sides. He says he also sympathizes with O’Brien. “[Conan] is getting the short end of the stick after doing what he was asked and contracted to do.” The latest rumor is that Conan’s last Tonight Show will be next Friday, and that Jay Leno will be reinstated as host after the Winter Olympics. Many speculate Conan will get his own late show on the Fox network.

“At this point, my preference is to get through this change quickly so we can move on and stabilize late night once again,” DeSantis concluded. In the meantime, it’s hilarious to hear all the late-night comedians ridicule NBC executives for their dismal handling of the situation.

As for me, I’m on Team Conan.

Television

Dumbest late night idea since “Thicke of the Night”

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According to the venerable New York Times, Jay Leno is tanking at 9:00, so the network is punishing Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon.

The network has a plan in the works to restore Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 [10:35 CT] each weeknight for a half-hour, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O’Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m. [11:05 p.m. CT] Mr. O’Brien would then have a full hour. […] The third NBC late-night star, Jimmy Fallon, has shown some promising ratings with younger viewers. He would then begin his show at 1:05 a.m. [12:05 a.m. CT], the executives said.

Conan’s show would still be called “The Tonight Show,” thus avoiding a breach-of-contract penalty for NBC. The stupidest thing is their reasoning:

Mr. O’Brien, meanwhile, has had his ratings suffer on “The Tonight Show.” He has trailed the “Late Night With David Letterman” on CBS by about two million viewers a night; Mr. Leno had easily been the winner in that time period previously.

Well, it’s amazing what 15 years does for your ratings. A better comparison would be to see how well Leno did his first year on the job. Answer: third place — behind Letterman and Nightline. This is a knee-jerk reaction to top all knee-jerk reactions, and will result in even more viewers being lost.