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The Future of NBC Studios at 30 Rock?

K

KentBrockman

Hmmmmm.... The Comcast merger is chugging along, Zucker has now been handed his walking papers and I am sitting here wondering what Comcast's plans are for NBC's East Coast operations at 30 Rock. Will Comcast just lease the space in the building from GE? Will GE kick 'em out? Will everything be moved out to Universal? 'Saturday Night Live' from Universal Studios Hollywood has a strange ring to it. ;). Lorne Michaels would have a @#$%&ing fit! 'NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams' from Lankershim Boulevard? :D 'Meet the Press' with David Gregory from Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia? ::)

This will be verrrrrrrrry interesting.
 
KentBrockman said:
'Saturday Night Live' from Universal Studios Hollywood has a strange ring to it. ;).
Click to expand...

Maybe they can call Agnes Nixon and get the same moving company that handled 'All My Children'. :D
 
GE does not own the "GE Building." As lead tenant, they get their name on the building. The property is owned by a real estate investment group.

New York has vacant commercial space these days. Landlords want to hold on to tenants.

That said, is the balance of the lease on the space NBC occupies in Rockefeller Center part of the deal? And is NBC's production facility in Brooklyn included, as well? Either...
GE wants to keep the space for other uses.
Comcast will take over the space if it can get lower rent and other concessions.
Comcast will look for cheaper property in New York (CBS, Fox and ABC operate without "name" buildings).

Meet The Press is broadcast from Washington (always has been).
 
KentBrockman said:
Hmmmmm.... Will Comcast just lease the space in the building from GE? Will GE kick 'em out? Will everything be moved out to Universal? 'Saturday Night Live' from Universal Studios Hollywood has a strange ring to it. ;). Lorne Michaels would have a @#$%&ing fit! 'NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams' from Lankershim Boulevard? :D 'Meet the Press' with David Gregory from Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia? ::)

This will be verrrrrrrrry interesting.
Click to expand...

I assume you're joking. Nightly News and SNL aren't moving to Burbank. I'm sure Comcast will either keep studios at 30 Rock or rent other office space in New York City. As Matt pointed out, there's plenty of vacant office space in NYC.

What I wonder about is how a move would effect the plot lines for the sit-com 30 Rock. As fans of the show know, their plot lines have tended to reflect reality - in a twisted way of course. There have been plot lines about Jack Donaghy's (Alec Baldwin) preoccupation with the marketing of small household appliances (GE). Lately, there have been plot lines on the show about the network being taken over by "Cable Town" - a giant cable company that makes most of its profits on pornography.

So I would think a real-life move from 30 Rock would be dealt with humorously on the show in some fashion.
 
I think it's actually going to be vice-versa, Comcast is probably going to want to move some of their offices and studios in with NBC Uni. I can see them moving their E!, Style Network and G4 studios from their compact LA studios to Universal Studios Hollywood. Maybe move the Comcast corporate offices to either 30 Rock or a new office tower in the backlot at USH?
 
If they get a studio on Sunset Strip, then they may change the name of the show '30 Rock' to 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'
 
Comcast recently signed a 15 year lease and moved corporate offices into a new skyscraper in West Philadelphia (Comcast Center). It would be surprising if they vacated that to move to Manhattan. Add to that all the corporate staff they would uproot.
 
Really center city Philadelphia, not west, but yes, it's been made pretty clear they're staying put.
 
MattParker said:
And is NBC's production facility in Brooklyn included, as well?
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IINM, NBC spun the studio in Brooklyn off after the cancellation of Another World (the primary project in the building at the time) in 1999. The network logo had been on the side of the building, but by 2001, it was no longer there. The website of the studio (http://www.jcstudios.net) doesn't mention ongoing NBC ownership nor are there any logos/designs on the website that include Peacock plumage.
 
NBC news, atleast for the forseeable future will remain at 30 Rock. The news operation needs to be in the population/political corridor to succeed. If it ever DID move out of NY, it would move to DC, but even that is highly unlikely. SNL has an NYC culture to it, any changes there would be very risky. But then again, nothing much surprises me more with NBC. NYC, from a news standpoint, is still the kingpin, and will be for a longtime.
 
searadiofreak said:
NBC news, atleast for the forseeable future will remain at 30 Rock. The news operation needs to be in the population/political corridor to succeed. If it ever DID move out of NY, it would move to DC, but even that is highly unlikely. SNL has an NYC culture to it, any changes there would be very risky. But then again, nothing much surprises me more with NBC. NYC, from a news standpoint, is still the kingpin, and will be for a longtime.
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Given the state of technology, the news operation does not have to be in New York. It could be most any place: Secaucus. Charlotte, North Carolina.

Maybe, network news operations wouldn't be seen as so out of touch with the real world and real people if they folks who produce it didn't all live in the same Manhattan neighborhoods, hang out with the same people and read the New York Times before they do anything else. Manhattan is slightly better than being inside the beltway but not much. It would be interesting to see how the news looks when viewed from, say, Chicago.
 
well.....Comcast is cheap! And I hear they have some nice space available in their
Public Access studios out on King of Prussia.....
 
Lkeller said:
Lately, there have been plot lines on the show about the network being taken over by "Cable Town" - a giant cable company that makes most of its profits on pornography.

So I would think a real-life move from 30 Rock would be dealt with humorously on the show in some fashion.
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Just so you'll know they spell it Kabletown.
 
I understand technology would allow for a major news operation to be operated out of just about anywhere. But, seriously, the prestige of being in New York is worth something don't you think? I would suggest that using technology to move your operation out of NYC would be a major mistake. CNN does have its headquarters in ATL, but they also do quite a bit of programming out of NYC.
 
searadiofreak said:
I understand technology would allow for a major news operation to be operated out of just about anywhere. But, seriously, the prestige of being in New York is worth something don't you think? I would suggest that using technology to move your operation out of NYC would be a major mistake. CNN does have its headquarters in ATL, but they also do quite a bit of programming out of NYC.
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CNN's headquarters are in Atlanta because it was Ted Turner's home city. The original "Superstation" created by Turner that begat his media empire was lowly little WTCG - broadcast channel 17 in Atlanta. In the first years of its satellite transmission to other cable companies, they still showed the "17" logo.

When Turner created CNN, it probably made economic sense to keep it in the same town as his other broadcast operation - "economies of scale," as they say.
 
searadiofreak said:
I understand technology would allow for a major news operation to be operated out of just about anywhere. But, seriously, the prestige of being in New York is worth something don't you think? I would suggest that using technology to move your operation out of NYC would be a major mistake. CNN does have its headquarters in ATL, but they also do quite a bit of programming out of NYC.
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Sorry, I don't think there is any prestige associated with being in New York except maybe on the part of broadcasters who want to get there. I don't think the audience cares and may not even be aware (that's why nobody noticed when NBC did their overnight show out of Charlotte). NBC, much more than the other networks, has traditionally made a big deal of their New York - specifically, Rockefeller Center - location. The open and close of Dateline scream "I'm in New York and you're not." The rest of the country does not have all that favorable a view of New York (and New York seems to view the rest of the country with some disdain, as illustrated in the classic New Yorker magazine cover). A lot of the distrust of the mainstream media seems wrapped up in distrust for New York. Paul Harvey understood that and made a point of staying in Chicago. Washington shares the same unfavorable attributes (public distrust and insular perspective) as New York. No, Philly wouldn't be much better. Even LA would be an improvement.

Keep SNL in New York. Even keep Today in New York. But put the executives, producers, editors and writers - the people who decide what's news and how to handle it - in the heartland (and put clauses in their contracts that they can't read The Times).
 
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