Network Journals.doc

Ashley Tillett Communication Arts 351- Marx January 28, 2010 Network Journals: NBC Entry #1: Week of 01/18 Hibberd, James. ?NBC stocks up on unscripted episodes.? 20 Jan. 2010. LexisNexis Academic. University of Wisconsin libraries, Madison, WI. 02 Feb. 2010 http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/   NBC is ordering more episodes for their primetime slots. The Network?s aim is to fill the ?Jay Leno Show? spaces. The new episodes will allow NBC to air originals as long as possible this season.   NBC knows that the ratings for ?Trauma? is tanking yet they are ordering more episodes just to fill Leno?s spots. This seems like a bad economic choice to me since the show was already canceled it. Why would anyone be drawn to watch a show that is known to be cruddy? They should just keep the money and use it to make a better season during the next go-around.   Entry #2: Week of 01/25 Littleton, Cynthia. "NBC's damage control." Variety 26 January 2010. Web. 21 Feb 2010. .   NBC and Comcast plan to join forces. NPR?s Elizabeth Blair believes that the proposal is ?controversial because a major distributor would control NBC Universal's movies, TV shows, and cable channels.? Legislators want to know if the companies would jack up rates and if non-Comcast subscribers would lose access to shows they want?   Comcast?s CEO Brian Roberts says that they would want the content available to all in the marketplace. Comcast?s involvement will provide NBC with more funding to help its already acknowledged problem of crummy programming. By joining with Comcast, NBC is hoping to fix this problem and Comcast is interested because they believe there is a rise in the value of content.   Entry #4: Week of 02/08 Weprin, Alex. "NBC Slows Streaming to a Trickle in Vancouver." Broadcasting & Cable 08 Feb. 2010: 4. ProQuest. University of Wisconsin libraries, Madison, WI. 21 Feb. 2010 .   NBC is minimizing its live Web streaming for the 2010 Olympics. Only curling and hockey will be shown online, all other events will air live or during primetime on television. This is a big difference from the 2,200 hours of live streaming it offered during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.   NBC is doing this in hopes to salvage some of the quarter of a billion dollars it?s anticipating to loose during this year?s Olympic games. NBC believes that viewers want to watch the games on their television sets. So scaling back streaming is actually not hurting anything. But some argue that streaming online preliminaries might actually help drive viewers to watch on their sets.   Entry #5: Week of 02/15 Littleton, Cynthia. "Pay For Play?." Variety 417.12 (2010): 7-8. Web. 21 Feb 2010. .   This article is about Comcast Corporation?s intent to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal. The belief is that they are doing so to get their hands on NBC?s cable brands, USA Network, Syfy, Bravo, and CNBC as well as some others. Additionally, lawmakers are concerned that along with all other assets, NBC will also be bringing Hulu to the table. Lawmakers are concerned that under Comcast?s ownership, a new fee would be put into place for access to NBC?s  programs.   I believe that by doing this, Comcast can stand to make a lot of money. Hulu is already a huge name in online viewing. Therefore, by taking their own chunk out of NBC Comcast will then be in charge of deciding whether the service will begin charging its customers. NBC will also do better by having Comcast as a partner due to the fact that it provides internet subscriptions to the more Americans than its rival service providers.   Entry #6: Week of 02/22 Bradner, Scott. "NBC Olympic coverage: Is internet the enemy?." Network World 27.4 (2010): 16. Web. 19 Mar 2010. .   In this article, Scott Bradner addresses the fact that NBC is not doing anything to bring itself into the now. It refuses to utilize the internet to the best of it ability and instead is choosing to use it as sparsely as possible. Bradner implies that NBC could possibly increase viewership as well as reduce the amount of money it has projected that it will loose during this years Olympics if they were to utilize the web.   The only reasoning that I can see behind NBC?s refusal to use the internet as much as it could is because they are probably, receiving more money from advertisers for their on-air coverage. The problem that some networks have with online is that it is even easier for viewers to ignore commercials. While you may no be so inclined to physically get up and walk away from the set or channel surf at the risk of missing even a few seconds of the show, clicking a button to open another browsing window is much more enticing. Also, when I worked at MTV, we spent a lot of time discussing the ?Twitter problem.? In a nutshell, MTV executives were concerned that Twitter poses a threat to its awards shows because of the time difference. New Yorker?s could Tweet about who did what and then all of a sudden no one wanted to watch on the West Coast. Likewise, because of NBC?s choice to air at different times, using the internet to view content would make the ?Twitter problem? all the more likely.   Entry #7: Week of 03/01 Fernandez, Bob. "McClatchy-Tribune Business News." N.p., 2 March 2010. Web. 23 Mar 2010. .   In light of the pending merger between NBCU and Comcast, the two have been going around trying to gather support from special-interest groups that might oppose their merger. The idea is for the two to have a sit down with these groups and ?listen? to their apprehensions and try to come to some sort of resolve.   I think that NBCU and Comcast is doing a great thing as far as publicity is concerned. By addressing the issues these groups have with them head-on, they are helping their public appeal and encouraging them to believe that they are interested in the group?s concerns. However, I do not believe that simply holding these sit downs will be enough. As with politics, it?s easy to talk  big but what most people really want to see is action. Bottomline, in the now, NBCU and Comcast are showing interest if nothing else and which will go a long way with increasing and maintaining viewership.   Entry #8: Week of 03/08 Wyatt, Edward. "Appeals Court Upholds Access Rules for Cable TV." New York Times 12 March 2010, Late Edition: B3. Print.   This article focuses on the recent upholding of a FCC rule that forbids cable companies that also own programming channels from refusing to allow competitors to also offer those channels. This is significant with respect to NBC because its pending merger with Comcast may be affected by it. Lawmakers are concerned that by merging with NBC, Comcast will have control over a large collective of popular channels. If the law were not extended, assuming that the merger goes through, Comcast would have an outrageous amount of power in the industry.   It?s pretty obvious in this scenario that NBC and Comcast stood to make a lot of money had the rule not been extended. The rule is up for renewal again in 2012. If overturned, NBC and Comcast could stop other cable companies from having a lot of viewer favorite channels which I suspect would lead to an eventual monopoly. *Note: I know this article wasn?t directly about NBC and its decisions, but I felt that this affected it enough for mentioning.   Entry #9: Week of 03/15 Steinberg, Brian. "NBC Breaks Beyond TV to Reach New Viewers." Advertising Age 81.11 (2010): 21. Web. 23 Mar 2010. .   This article is about how NBC is attempting to shake up its advertising strategies. It focuses on how NBC is starting to shy away from using on screen promotions and keeping its website free from the norm of clutter and ?in-your-face? advertising. Recently, NBC has tried something new by placing an ad in the Los Angeles Times for Southland to try and increase program awareness without making viewers feel like they are being bombarded as they are with other networks.   I believe that this strategy is a good start from the company. It?s clear that they are taking into account marketing research that has been surfacing in recent years. One of televisions biggest problem right now is the growing lack of attention viewers are paying to promo spots. I once saw a report about Times Square in New York, which has become so cluttered with ads flashing and doing all sorts of things to ?jump out? at the consumer and because of the massive amount of ads in that spot, the messages are getting lost in one another. The same is becoming an issue with the Internet. NBC is again shying away from the Internet as it did with the Olympics in hopes of ?thinking out of the box? in new and innovative ways that other networks are less likely to follow.