Comcast Flirts With Purchasing NBC

[TexasTom]

The "seven dirty words" ruling does indeed still apply -- but subsequent court cases forced the FCC to carve out a "safe harbor" during which so-called indecent programming can air on broadcast stations. That "safe harbor" is between 10 PM and 6 AM -- and between those hours, the "seven dirty words" can be broadcast. Between 6 AM and 10 PM, that sort of language could still earn a big fine.

 

[JeeperOne]

Here's the way I see things shaking out.....

If this goes through then I wonder what would happen to Universal Sports. Would Comcast put all the big individual competitions, like the Tour de France, there or would that and the main important track and field events move over to Versus? Perhaps Versus and Universal Sports could merge and create Versus 1 and Versus 2 or Universal Sports 1 and Universal Sports 2. In terms of the Olympics, I think it makes it more likely that NBC would retain those rights for the foreseeable future. The NHL could find its position a bit improved, as they would have some more options for exposure of their product, which they might use to leverage ESPN into giving them a better TV rights deal.

The NHL ALREADY HAS such leverage with Universal Sports being owned by Universal Vivendi, who also owns NBC. I honestly fail to see what the NHL is waiting for.....

This may also be the start of an inevitable migration of the big networks permanently to cable. A few O&O's could still be retained to simulcast important shows in the huge markets. All the big networks have cable interests, anyway. So it would be natural for the networks themselves to be on cable at a point in the future, notwithstanding the must-carry rule for major affiliates. As an aside, this is what should've been done with The CW and ION. Now is the time to do it before it's too late.

Naah. With HDTV, it's not as easy for Americans in some parts of the country to receive their favorite station (Regardless of the network) as it was back before the switch. As such, I see ALL the networks switching to a model that caters to the 100+ crowd like The CW already does with WDCW 50 Washington DC & (Now) XETV 6 San Diego, CA. The Big 4 can do this with their O&Os from both coasts very easily (In fact,doesn't FOX already do this?).

It would be interesting, if that radical shakeout occurs, how the OTA stations would respond. Certainly, plenty of stations would go dark as a result. But many, including O&O's and other major stations groups, could survive as long as they can adapt by offering a variety of programming that would be overlooked in the old days of OTA broadcasting.

Gee....That statement is a throwback to the fall of 1962 when it was believed the OTR era had ended. Look what's happened to it since then. It was revived THREE times. Once by ABC (With Theater Five in the mid-1960s) once by NBC (With Monitor, using mainly rebroadcasts of Dimension X & X Minus One for programming, also during the mid-1960s & lasting till the mid-1970s) & again by CBS (With CBS Radio Mystery Theater starting in 1974). The latter lasting until 1982.

In short, the radio gods were only a mere 20 years off

What would happen to Telemundo? I say they'd be sold to a major Latin business group as I don't think NBC Universal knows what to do with it.

CBS didn't know what to do with Univision when they had it either, yet Univision is still flourishing today. There's no reason to believe that Telemundo will be any different.

Just my opinion.....

Cheers

 

[JeeperOne]

There will be a problem for Comcast if this goes through.

FCC rules prohibit ownership of a TV station and a cable system in the same market. This would be a problem in San Francisco, Chicago, and (gasp...) Comcast's home city of Philadelphia. They will have to sell either the NBC O&O, or their systems in those markets.

They could always spin off the cable system in those cities to their buddies over at Time Warner.

I don't see this passing antitrust muster. Again, this is only a report.

Assuming they spin off the cable systems over to their buddies at Time Warner, where's the problem? I don't see it.

Just my opinion.....

Cheers

 

[JeeperOne]

There will be a problem for Comcast if this goes through.

FCC rules prohibit ownership of a TV station and a cable system in the same market. This would be a problem in San Francisco, Chicago, and (gasp...) Comcast's home city of Philadelphia. They will have to sell either the NBC O&O, or their systems in those markets.

That's sort of an amusing speculation, if one thinks about NBC winding up on KRON again, because NBC sells KNTV.

There's NO WAY that NBC would sell KNTV 11 at this point. I just don't see it.

Besides, IF they were to do so, whom would they sell it to? Who (Other than possibly Hearst-Argyle & Gannett) could afford it?

Just my opinion.....

Cheers

 

[dhett]

I'm sure they'd much rather settle any fines emanating from the SNL "F-bombs" with NBC before anything else...

Why should there be any fines? SNL airs in the "safe harbor" after 10 PM everywhere in the country -- therefore, the "F-bombs" shouldn't be considered a violation of the FCC's indecency rules.

Can the F-word be said in broadcast media? Don't the "7 dirty-words you can't say on television" still apply to this day?

Sue, care to take this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlviPGoy__0 (language warning)

WNBC was not fined.

 

[stationi]

If this deal goes forward, hopefully it will not be approved by the Justice Department -- allowing even greater concentration of media ownership isn't what we need right now.

I agree. This is a disaster and further concentrates our media in even fewer hands.

As an alternative, perhaps it might be worth considering to just spin NBC Universal off as a separate company. There's recent precedent with the Viacom spinning off CBS into a separate company and with Time Warner splitting its cable segment off from the rest of the company.

A potential option is that Comcast could just acquire the cable assets (Bravo,Syfy,etc..), studios, and content library while dumping the over-the-air broadcast stations.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Let's not forget that Eddie Rendell was a surrogate for Hillary Clinton, and was strongly anti-Obama. Some of that bad blood may influence Obama's friends at the FCC, if this issue arises....

As long as Fast Eddie can continue to steer Comcast cash into Democratic coffers, I'm sure that the Obama Administration will be willing to play ball with him. After all, he DID get them to plumb all of the waterless toilets in their Philly headquarters...

 

[JeeperOne]

A potential option is that Comcast could just acquire the cable assets (Bravo,Syfy,etc..), studios, and content library while dumping the over-the-air broadcast stations.

Either that or skip NBC & its stations altogether & just simply buy up the cable properties.

As for Universal Sports, they could enter into a joint venture partnership with NBC Sports which would combine the best of Versus with the best of NBC Sports (Minus SNF of course) into two national channels along with the current RSNs which Comcast already has. This would leave room for the RSNs to do their thing as well as provide an outlet for the current offerings on Versus, which would include a REAL outlet for the NHL as well as the Arena Football League (The latter of which is ALWAYS poo-pooed on by ESPN despite the league's claims to the contrary IMO).

It would also relieve Comcast of being stuck airing programming from FSN as well. You know they'd love nothing more.

Just my opinion.....

Cheers

 

[JayR]

Sue, care to take this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlviPGoy__0 (language warning)

WNBC was not fined.

LMAO!

That was funny!