“Jeff Zucker, chief executive of NBC Universal, is planning to seize on the writers’ strike to eliminate what he sees as extravagances in the way Hollywood makes and promotes television,” Joshua Chaffin reports for The Financial TImes.
Chaffin reports, “NBC and other companies have already used the strike to terminate millions of dollars of long-term production contracts. Mr Zucker is planning to go further by cutting enduring features of the television business, including the pilot season, in which networks develop programmes, and the splashy ‘upfront’ presentations in which they tout them to advertisers. ‘Things like that are all vestiges of an era that’s gone by and won’t return,’ Mr Zucker told the Financial Times.”
Chaffin reports, “Mr Zucker appears to have patched up relations with Apple after a pricing dispute last year led NBC to pull its shows from the iTunes digital media store. ‘We’ve said all along that we admire Apple, that we want to be in business with Apple,’ he said. ‘We’re great fans of Steve Jobs.'”
Full article (subscription required) here.
Stating the desire to be in business with Apple does not equal “patched up relations.” This may, however, be a sign that Zucker and NBC are beginning to crawl back to Steve Jobs and Apple’s market-dominating iTunes Store.
MacDailyNews Note: Today is Martin Luther King Day, a U.S. federal holiday. The markets are closed today in the U.S. Many people in the U.S. have the day off. Consequently we expect news to be light, although we do hope to bring you Apple-related news throughout the day.
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NBC Universal CEO Zucker: ‘Apple has destroyed the music business’ – October 29, 2007
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It seems that they are at least saying the right things publicly. I think they are seeing the train leaving the station and don’t want to get left behind.
I could care less about NBC shows but all of their other Universal properties have a greater interest to me.
I wonder what would happen:
GE is the parent Co. NBC.
GE is currently priced at 34. + change a share.
If we all bought one share, and then started writing to GE:
We want shows on iTunes. We are tired of same old same old…
I wonder what would happen…
It was inevitable. It was just the matter of time. And the WGA strike just made it hurt even more.
And of course, Jobs will be welcoming them back, standing firmly the high ground that he has.
AppleTV will be the smash hit that it was originally scheduled to be, without doubt.
Steve and Zucker have probably learnt to make concessions… for Apple to win, NBC doesn’t have to lose and vice versa.
There’s a Zucker boring every minute.
Everyone knew the outcome would be like this. Now that Apple has all the major Hollywood studios and all the major television networks signed on to the iTunes Store, NBC didn’t want to be the only one left out in the industry. Before long they’ll be pleading with Steve Jobs to get their network signed back on to iTunes.
Bluefin, would you loan $34.31 to me? (j/k)
NBC: Leftist media outlet with bold anti-American agenda – especially nutroots on MSNBC. Their channels, national and local, have been locked out on my TVs.
Apple: Liberal company whose Liberal CEO invites Marxist piano man to perform at year’s premier event.
Outcome: little difference – I’m very close to locking Apple products out of my life.
“NBC: Leftist media outlet with bold anti-American agenda”
If that’s easier to wrap your pea brain around then go ahead. Being dumb takes less energy than actually thinking.
From another forum I found: “Im sure it had nothing to do with Andrea Jung joining the Apple Board of Directors. She also sits on GE’s board which owns 80% of NBC Universal.”
Looks like Apple was smart to get the Avon lady on board!
News Flash NBC to rejoin iTunes, and Hulu closes up shop as a huge failure.
Let me be clear – I admire Steve Jobs. I would even go so far as to say that I ‘like’ him based solely on his keynotes and interviews. He seems to truly care about the ‘right’ things, and that is a big reason why Apple is headed in the right direction. Admittedly, I have not met Steve in person or had a chance to engage him in conversation, so that is a weak basis for making a personal judgment.
But Steve is just one person and Apple is, in the end, a corporate entity for whom profit for the shareholder and money/power for the board of directors is the rule. Power can corrupt and corporations can go astray despite the best intentions of management. So while in its current position of electronic media dominance Apple is pushing consumer-friendly policies, such as DRM-free music, I don’t think that it is in everyone’s best interests for Apple to develop/maintain a stranglehold on internet music or video distribution. Healthy competition is a good thing.
Let Apple lead the way. Let others join the trek.
@Birds of a Feather
Good riddance, who needs you.
Nutjob.
xlt3zz beat me to it!
What happened was Macworld and the announcement that EVERY FRIGGIN’ MEDIA OUTLET ON THE PLANET practically signed up on iTunes.
Talk about egg on your face?
If I were a GE shareholder, I’d be demanding the resignation of the buffoon responsible for NBC’s iTunes debacle.
The sooner people like Birds of a Feather lock themselves out of the Real World, the better.
Was probably feeling the heat from NBC’s shareholders. Zucker’s gonna have his tail between his legs when he goes back to Steve. Funny!
KingMel,
Apple hasn’t developed, nor maintained, a “stranglehold” on anything.
What we are witnessing is a minor revolution, of sorts, in which the CONSUMERS are actively CHOOSING Apple and iTunes OVER all other competitors.
We HAVE healthy competition, and for a change, it’s the CONSUMERS who are dictating who wins or loses.
That’s a tough thought for some to swallow, but it’s what’s happening.
Am I the only freedom-loving, Constitution-preserving Conservative in the Apple universe or is it just the skulls-full-of-mush crowd that populates this forum?
Steve Jobs has added to the definition of Capitalism while seizing upon its greatest benefits, yet you guys continue to defend big government and its wrong headed supporters as some kind of good thing when it is, in fact, the thing we should fear the most.
Do you think, even for a minute, that more government control and regulation will lead to the development of more of the gadgets you love so much? Do you think the ring master of marketing will continue to perform in a country with the kind of government being pushed by NBC and other Liberal media?
Enough with the Fascist propaganda.
I just read about this on Slashdot. Will someone PLEASE get them a spell checker???
To Birds of a Feather, you are not the only conservative on this board — not by a long shot. SJ has lefty rebel roots, but like many of this sort, they soon learn that their crypto Marxist puerile early stance leads only to disaster. They can’t make the final break and just flush their so called “progressive” baggage behind in their private life. But Jobs acts like an outstanding free enterpriser.
If you choose to cut your nose to spite your face and not just ignore SJ’s childish, but harmless, genuflections to his old radical buddies, then go ahead and suffer the consequences. I, however choose to do the capitalist thing and make a lot of $$$ betting on the world’s greatest capitalist, Steve Jobs.
I imagine Immelt is tired of his stock sliding and pulled the reins in on Zucker.
BOAF-
check back around October. You won’t be able to get a word in edgewise around here. I’m saving my breath and enjoying the Mac talk. For now.
Ge, I thought I made a post.
Hello?
I feel kinda funny…..think that acid hasn’t worn off yet.
OK. As Officer Barbardy would say…”Found it!”