“Fourth-ranked broadcaster NBC has quietly begun reimbursing advertisers an average of $500,000 each for failing to reach guaranteed ratings levels, the first time a network has taken such a step in years, media buyers said,” Reuters reports.
“Among the Big Four networks, NBC has the most serious ad shortfall, as its primetime ratings are down most dramatically. Meanwhile, none of its new series this season have caught on with viewers. Compounding buyers’ angst about NBC is the network’s plan to schedule more reality shows, including ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and ‘American Gladiators,'” Reuters reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Two more pieces of crap for which we won’t bother firing up Transmission.
Reuters continues, “‘We’re trying to understand NBC’s recent moves,’ Starcom Entertainment exec vp Laura Caraccioli-Davis said. ‘We are concerned that it might be thinking about adopting a programming strategy like some of its sister cable networks. ‘American Gladiators’ and even some of the shows they have in development, like ‘Knight Rider,’ are remakes being dusted off rather than coming up with new creations. NBC used to be the upscale, quality network.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: All The Wrong Moves. Starring Jeff Zucker. So, how much longer will GE CEO Jeff Immelt let Zucker run NBC Universal into the ground?
If not for The Office, NBC need not exist.
They’re still on the air?
Speaking of NBC, I absolutely can not stand “My Name is Earl” – I felt dumber after watching that show.
Fortunately I have the ability to switch the channel…
I blocked all NBC channels from all my TVs and don’t miss it at all!
Do you think they will hire Hasselhoff?
I love transmission and torrent.to
oh ya, a program called tvshows
throw in visualhub and an appletv and I am a happy guy.
And Big Bang Theory is the best new show this year!
They are obviously in no position to play hardball with Apple and withdraw their content from iTunes…
What a really dumb move. Jeff Sucker is clearly not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Unbelievable!
NBC used to be the home for great shows like Friends, Cheers, and Seinfeld. Now it thinks bringing back American Gladiator is a good idea.
Thank god we don’t have Apple pushing us around any more! Forcing us to make a profit on iTunes downloads. Damn Apple. It’s all their fault.
Somebody dust off My Mother the Car — we need to get something on the air!
With the exception of “The Office” and “30 Rock,” the writing on NBC shows this year has been pathetic. “…Earl” went from not bad to awful. I had high hopes for a couple of their new shows, in particular “Bionic Woman” which has a great cast but horrible dialog and ridiculous plots. “Chuck” shows promise but is pretty uneven, even for a new show.
As far as their advertisers are concerned, my wife and I time shift everything on our ReplayTVs and skip commercials anyway. I’ve seen Apple’s commercials online. Good enough for me.
Maybe the mystical, magical Mr. Steveness can find a spare hour or two every day and run NBC?
I forgot “Heroes.” Still good.
Watching the mad dogs at NBC Universal lurch from bad decision to bad decision is almost pitiful.
They are going through a classic disintermediation, or at least, and radical reordering of the failing value chain in TV (and also music).
They will not be able to staunch the bleeding. They botched the industry shift.
The next act will be, as you note, for customers, shareholders and management board members to act on this mismanagement and have some scalps in their briefcases.
All Steve Jobs has to do is ……. nothing. Enjoy the Pelligrino in Oslo, Steve.
The only show I like is Chuck…..
Okay I see the strategy clearly: kill anything where you are the leader (iTunes, more affluent viewers, etc.). The mind boggles.
All good news for whoever suceeds Zucker though, he/she will definitely look like a hero.
One’s gotta wonder about GE vaunted management style. GE is supposed to insist on being #1 or #2 in a market. WTF?
If only SJ wasn’t so focused and disciplined… he could just offer to relieve GE of its NBCU burden.
But who needs those headaches?
I was loving NBC’s Monday nights. Chuck, Heroes, Journeyman were all fun shows. They just killed that line up with Howey Mandell’s Lets Make a Deal and what ever crap they have now. The execs think that everyone is beholden to them. eg. Viewers, Writers, Apple, and anyone else who can actually make or break them. Give the people the shows they want, reward good writing (or at least entertaining), and allow it to be distributed in a way and at a price that is marketable. Do these simple things and advertisers will be paying out the nose. Much better than trying to gouge viewers and paying back advertisers.
“Maybe the mystical, magical Mr. Steveness can find a spare hour or two every day and run NBC?”
Since Disney owns ABC — possibly a conflict of interest there.
From the network that wouldn’t take an ad thanking our troops for their service.
NBC, careful who you piss off!
HEROS is the best show on television and the only reason why I watch NBC. The current CEO want be around for long… his vision concerning emerging technologies is obviously limited. With AT&T;and Verizon launching IPTV across the US, in 8~10 years, the traditional model of channel surfing will be thing of the past, people will search for their TV content by brand and title … those networks posted on iTunes (and few other sites) will have an early start.
What is this doing in MacDailyNews? The fact that NBC pulled its shows from iTunes doesn’t justify it.
I’m sorry, but 30 Rock is laugh out loud funny… and Chuck is fun… and The Office is The Office… other than that (btw, I watch it all free on their site, who cares about 15 second ads) who gives a GDS.
Maybe it was a good thing NBC left the iTunes store.
@stannyc
Pulling from iTunes isn’t that much of a stretch, considering iTunes downloads saved shows like The Office. Plus, Apple is clearly shaping up to be a player in the video content arena, so any shift that relates to it is at least marginally relevant.
@stannyc
Nothing we Mac fanboys love more than to stand around a rotting corpse and watch it decompose.
Also, with NBC’s upcoming stellar lineup of shows, I suspect my cable company Comcast will soon be moving them down the channel realm to a place between Spike TV and the Weather Channel.
‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and ‘American Gladiators’, can anyone say oxymoron alert, not as great as ‘Microsoft Works’ which even the balmy idiot abandoned, but close.
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NBC I have a TLA for you: RIP