NBCU: 'Getting rid' of marginal channels

[crackedscreen]

"There are just too many channels," NBCU chief Steve Burke told analysts during Comcast’s second-quarter conference call on Wednesday.

So, he said, NBCU will shutter or consolidate some of its "marginal channels" just as it has G4 and Style.

Burke didn't say which of his networks he considered marginal, but he indicated which were not in talking about must-haves for skinny bundles now being assembled by OTT players.

The must-haves include NBC, of course, but also USA, Syfy, Bravo and E!, he said. "We make most of our money in those big channels."

So, if you work at NBCU's Chiller, Cloo, Esquire Network or Oxygen, you are forgiven for being a little nervous today.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/96586/burkes-right-there-are-too-many-channels

 

[KeithE4]

the must-haves include nbc, of course, but also usa, syfy, bravo and e!, he said. "we make most of our money in those big channels."

so, if you work at nbcu's chiller, cloo, esquire network or oxygen, you are forgiven for being a little nervous today.

msnbc?

 

[mnradiofan]

msnbc?

MSNBC is a top 50 cable network, so I doubt that one is on the table. If it was, NBC Sports isn't safe, nor is CNBC, which also rates lower than MSNBC.

I think Sprout is in trouble, unless they are getting a lot of money from PBS to run it. Golf Channel and Universal HD are two more I can think of. They could easily merge the content of Golf into NBC Sports Channel, and Cloo content into SyFy. I think that's more what we will see is channel "duplication" being removed.

That said, I'm surprised to hear any of this. Channel space is (was?) valuable, and I'm sure they could just as simply run the channels on the cheap using Universal's vault at little to no cost to them to pocket the few cents per subscriber that they get. I also wonder what impact that this would have on cable companies. Less channels = less perceived value for the price, so does that mean lower cable bills? Unlikely, since the bottom barrel channels only command a few cents or less per sub.

 

[TheBigA]

Golf Channel and Universal HD are two more I can think of. They could easily merge the content of Golf into NBC Sports Channel, and Cloo content into SyFy. I think that's more what we will see is channel "duplication" being removed.

That makes sense, although I don't think that's what this story is about.

A few years ago, NBCU invested a lot of money in digital channel creation. The idea was to provide content for O&O digital subchannels, in the hopes that people would go back to over-the-air digital rather than cable. That's what a lot of those smaller channels look like to me. Although my cable system runs Esquire. But most of those channels don't really have a consistent home among the major cable systems.

 

[CTListener]

MSNBC is a top 50 cable network, so I doubt that one is on the table. If it was, NBC Sports isn't safe, nor is CNBC, which also rates lower than MSNBC.

But CNBC also rates higher than its two direct rivals, Fox Business and Bloomberg. Why would NBCU fold a winning hand?

 

[TheBigA]

But CNBC also rates higher than its two direct rivals, Fox Business and Bloomberg. Why would NBCU fold a winning hand?

None of them were mentioned in this article.

 

[KeithE4]

Golf Channel and Universal HD are two more I can think of.

Golf Channel is on in probably every bar in the country when there's no other sports on.

 

[Morgan Wick]

This reads like snippets of quotes taken out of context for click bait. The article I read made it seem like something big content companies in general would do in the medium term, not something NBCU was going to do imminently.

I mean, the articles talking about this say that part of NBC doing this would be when they shut down G4 and Style to make way for Esquire Network, which would seem to be one of the more vulnerable networks. Would NBCU back out of that project so quickly? Just earlier this year H2 was converted to Viceland; as long as more networks mean programmers can collect even one cent more from cable operators, they will continue to play musical chairs rather than actually shut down underperforming networks.

When NBCU does get around to cutting networks, NBCSN, Golf Channel, MSNBC, and CNBC will be in better shape than their ratings indicate because their live programming is the one thing linear TV still does better than the alternatives. I'm hesitant to say Golf and NBCSN will merge because there are times when their programming overlaps, especially on NASCAR weekends; more likely is that they become NBCSN and NBCSN2, or that some sports programming gets bumped to MSNBC and/or USA.

 

[mnradiofan]

But CNBC also rates higher than its two direct rivals, Fox Business and Bloomberg. Why would NBCU fold a winning hand?

I'm not saying that they would, just that MSNBC does better than CNBC, so the logic that they would dump MSNBC because it is a weak network would also lump CNBC into that boat (since it is weaker than MSNBC).

Personally, I don't think they would fold ANY network that has live programming, sports or news. For one, cross promotion between NBC and MSNBC/CNBC (and for that matter, The Weather Channel) would be great. Also, as has been pointed out, live programming is one of the last "must haves" that keep Cable around.

I could also see NBCUniversal using underperforming networks to launch new channels (as they did with Esquire, and as Viacom did with VH1 Classic).

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I think Sprout is in trouble, unless they are getting a lot of money from PBS to run it. Golf Channel and Universal HD are two more I can think of. They could easily merge the content of Golf into NBC Sports Channel,

I'm not sure about that. NBCSN is fairly busy on weekends this time of year, primarily with auto racing and the Tour de France. If anything happens to Golf, it probably gets turned into NBCSN2.

 

[ChocoMingo]

There is probably one reason SyFy is safe from this, SHARKNADO!

 

[Morgan Wick]

If anything happens to Golf, it probably gets turned into NBCSN2.

Last I checked Golf was in more homes, so if anything it would become the main NBCSN and the current NBCSN would become NBCSN2.

 

[itsTheRolyPoly]

Last I checked Golf was in more homes, so if anything it would become the main NBCSN and the current NBCSN would become NBCSN2.

Do that and the Golf community will be pissed.