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L&O may be headed to TNT following fall out with NBC. What happens to L&O Los Angeles.

Discussion of Comcast and NBC Merger, including opening promises from Comcast to preserve local over-the-air broadcasting and increase programming for children and minorities.

The Comcast-NBC show returned to Capitol Hill Thursday as legislators pressed executives over the companies' plans to create a $30 billion media juggernaut. During a lengthy round of questioning, Comcast (CMCSA) CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Universal chieftain Jeff Zucker denied that the merger would be anti-competitive and would lead to layoffs. But critics were unswayed, including one who went as far as to say the deal would "undermine American democracy."

Congressional hearings for the Comcast/NBC case are scheduled for Feb. 4. There are many opponents to the deal, including consumer activists and media watchdogs, Local affiliates are concerned that Comcast could "gradually migrate some or all of the most compelling sports, news and entertainment programming and talent away from free, over-the-air distribution on NBC to its newly owned cable channels that are made available only to paying subscribers, such as Bravo and USA Network."

Comcast/NBC combined cable networks will comprise 82% of the cash flow to the combined venture. Network and film studio will contribute only a small portion. Comcast says no overlap between it and NBC. Thus no redundancies or lay-offs.

"Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts and NBC Universal President & CEO Jeff Zucker faced a barrage of questions Feb. 25 in a marathon--over five hours with one break--hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on their proposed joint venture, their third Hill visit in as many weeks as they push for government approval of their $30 billion joint venture.\nDuring that time, the pair defended their records on diversity, and in some cases pledged to do better, reiterated their pledges to keep NBC free and over the air, and their programming available to competitive distributors."

Senator Al Franken uses his experience in the industry to speak candidly about his concerns with the NBC-Comcast Merger. Interesting to have an industry insider in govertment that is not interested in the same outcomes has the executives.

NBC owns the U.S. rights to the Vancouver Olympics, and, for this Olympics, it has clamped down on online live streaming of events. Only hockey and curling will be shown live online, with all other events either shown live on television or held for tape-delay airing on prime time or late night television, says the industry publication Broadcasting & Cable in a story Monday. The Web site for CTV, the Canadian network with rights to the Olympics in that country, is live-streaming events, but NBC has made sure that computers with U.S. IP addresses can't log onto the CTV site.

NBC-Universal Vice President Richard Cotton called upon internet service providers to be permitted to filter content over their pipes for copyright violations, and compared copyright filtering to filtering for computer viruses."

Maureen Dowd describes how Zucker murdered the NBC nightly schedule.

In his opening remarks about the proposed Comcast-NBC deal at a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, Franken (D-Minn.) ripped into the deal and the risks it could present to not only consumers but media competition as well.

This article contains a good example of Ben Silverman's strategy at NBC. He was heralded for his ability to to create a web presence for his popular primetime comedies. NBC has had successes in producing crossover content (The Office and SNL) but they have also had failures (Kathy and Kim, mentioned in the article). Overall this a good example of the extendable strategy.

In his feisty opening statement, Franken said: "I worked for NBC for many years. And what I know from my previous career has given me reason to be concerned--let me rephrase that, very concerned--about the potential merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. The media are our source of entertainment, but they're also the way we get our information about the world. So when the same company that produces the programs runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous.... You'll have to excuse me if I don't just trust their promises and that is from experience in this business." The former SNL star and entertainment industry insider-turned-Senator is dead on with his concerns. As Free Press--the media reform advocacy organization founded by The Nation's John Nichols, media scholar Robert McChesney, and current executive director Josh Silver-- points out, the merger would result in Comcast controlling one in every five television viewing hours. It would lead to fewer choices of what you can watch and how you can watch it. Those cable bills that continue to rise would rise even higher, and if you don't use Comcast you might have to pay a premium to get NBC's shows. There will be even less access to local and independent programming as Comcast would promote NBC's shows at their expense. And, finally, there's the even larger issue of concentrating power and limiting access to free public interest media.

"Social media blogs complain about too much advertising on NBC's Vancouver Olympics. And yet NBC has released new viewer data showing that in virtually every single category - including brand recall, engagement, and other marketing metrics - numbers are up for advertisers who bought into the winter games. Viewership is up right now, too: some 25% higher than the 2006 games in Torino, Italy."

NBC, with its exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics, cut away from the closing ceremonies to debut its new marriage show starring Jerry Seinfeld. Outraged viewers took to twitter, and the incident raised an interesting question of balancing exclusive rights against commercial interests.

The Department of Justice and the FCC are performing antitrust reviews of the proposed Comcast/NBC merger.

Mermigas says NBC too focused on bc schedule. Missing the digital opportunities offered by Leno and O'Brien

NBC plans 20 pilots this year. Remember that after the writers strike everyone said pilots (and scripted TV) are dead? Besides that, the article is mostly a rehash.

If they Comcast-NBC merger goes through, the conglomerate could gain serious clout in negotiations between local station owners and local cable systems for the right to retransmit broadcast tv signals.

President Obama's 2009 stimulus package was the most expensive bill in history, yet received strong media support. This is because the media; ABC, CBS, and NBC cite supporters of the bill 3 times as often as they mention critics, and nearly half of their reports included no criticism about the bill at all!