MacDailyNews Take: We imagine the cheers must have been deafening.
Carter continues, “In an interview at NBC’s executive offices, Mr. Zucker, who is 45, said the decision to leave the only employer he has ever worked for — a decision that he acknowledged was not his own choice — became inevitable after a meeting two weeks ago with Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer… ‘Look, I knew from the day this was announced that this was a possibility,’ Mr. Zucker said. ‘“I wasn’t going to shut the door on anything. But in the last nine months it became increasingly clear that they did want to put their own team in place — and I didn’t want to end up being a guest in my own house.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Basement, Jeffie, not house. Right where you put it.
Carter continues, “While he often faced withering criticism in Hollywood circles for his leadership of the entertainment division of the NBC network — in his note to the staff he mentioned the ‘ups and downs’ the company had experienced — Mr. Zucker said he did not detect ‘any particular reason’ beyond the broad desire for new leadership for Comcast’s inclination to make a change.”
MacDailyNews Take: Here’s the reason: You suck and you’re a visionless schmuck who took a once-great network and reduced it to a perennial ratings basement dweller. It’s not difficult to detect the reason why you finally got the pink slip you’ve deserved for so long, Jeffie.
Carter continues, “Mr. Zucker conceded that his legacy at NBC would be colored by what he called “the rap on me,” which has centered on his failure to solve chronic problems in the most high-profile (if not the most high-earning) part of the NBC empire, the prime time hours on the broadcast network. ‘Do I wish we’d had more success at NBC Entertainment in recent years? Yes, of course,’ Mr. Zucker said. He acknowledged one recent widely publicized blunder, the effort to shift NBC’s late-night star Jay Leno to prime time. He said the move had been a risk worth taking, but one ‘that simply didn’t work out.'”
Carter reports, “As for his future, Mr. Zucker said: ‘I don’t know. I never really thought about it because for 24 and a half years I only thought about this place. I have a lot of interests, producing, politics, sports, business.’ Friends have previously suggested Mr. Zucker might try to enter political life. ‘Am I interested in politics? Yes,’ he said. ‘Is it something I am going to do right away? No.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, for God’s sake, that’s all we need, yet another visionless politician. Can you please move to another country before you jump into politics, Jeff?
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Congrats, NBCU! There’s hope for you yet! May NBCU’s next CEO have a clue and a clear vision for the future (hint, hint: Apple TV).
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Terry P.” and “Jay in DC” for the heads up.]
to be replaced by Jack Donaghy.
Called it yesterday at 11AM pacific. Zucker says no to Apple, again?
Comcast, who bought NBC, doesn’t suffer fools and certainly isn’t going to tolerate the likes of someone who is knee-deep in but… but, that’s how we always did it at NBC
Zucker was born and raised in conventional television and couldn’t think beyond the paradigm of tradition. He couldn’t envision a program delivery system that wasn’t explicitly tied to the television.
That is the fate of someone who is shadowed by ass-kissers.
Zucker got Zuckerberg’d.
the old guard of NBC.
Called it yesterday at 11AM pacific. Zucker says no to Apple, again?
Comcast, who bought NBC, doesn’t suffer fools and certainly isn’t going to tolerate the likes of someone who is knee-deep in but… but, that’s how we always did it at NBC
Zucker was born and raised in conventional television and couldn’t think beyond the paradigm of tradition. He couldn’t envision a program delivery system that wasn’t explicitly tied to the television.
That is the fate of someone who is shadowed by ass-kissers.
Zucker got Zuckerberg’d.
the old guard of NBC.
the only time i watched NBC was on sunday nights from the months of September – Early January.
they lost me after Seinfeld.
the only time i watched NBC was on sunday nights from the months of September – Early January.
they lost me after Seinfeld.
Bye you asswipe
Bye you asswipe
I think that explains a lot. If NBC was Zucker’s “only” employer then he is so disconnected from reality it’s a joke. I don’t think he did a good job at NBC at all – as a network they’ve become a total joke and their secondary networks pump out “monk” clones and spinoffs continually it’s ridiculous.
Hopefully Zuckey can find a nice cave to live out the rest of this dumb life in. But I still don’t think this will change Apple’s relationship with NBC.
I think that explains a lot. If NBC was Zucker’s “only” employer then he is so disconnected from reality it’s a joke. I don’t think he did a good job at NBC at all – as a network they’ve become a total joke and their secondary networks pump out “monk” clones and spinoffs continually it’s ridiculous.
Hopefully Zuckey can find a nice cave to live out the rest of this dumb life in. But I still don’t think this will change Apple’s relationship with NBC.
On MDN’s take: are you guys stupid or something…?? “NBCU’s new CEO having a clue and clear vision for the future (hint, hint: AppleTV.)” <yes, the period goes inside the parentheses>
You guys obviously haven’t been following any of Comcast’s strategies… they don’t give a shit about the customer. They’re more interested in having control of the whole pie. The turndown of Apple’s 99¢ per episode rental likely didn’t come from Zucker, but from the new owners, Comcast. I’m sure if they can copy the AppleTV, they’ll offer their own device instead, and they’ll have all their cable system programming to offer on it, and the high speed internet service to run it through… I don’t think they’ll be interested in Apple trying to take a piece of what they consider their own, exclusive pie. Comcast buying any network is a bad thing, and soon NBC programming won’t be available on any other cable system or satellite TV systems.
On MDN’s take: are you guys stupid or something…?? “NBCU’s new CEO having a clue and clear vision for the future (hint, hint: AppleTV.)” <yes, the period goes inside the parentheses>
You guys obviously haven’t been following any of Comcast’s strategies… they don’t give a shit about the customer. They’re more interested in having control of the whole pie. The turndown of Apple’s 99¢ per episode rental likely didn’t come from Zucker, but from the new owners, Comcast. I’m sure if they can copy the AppleTV, they’ll offer their own device instead, and they’ll have all their cable system programming to offer on it, and the high speed internet service to run it through… I don’t think they’ll be interested in Apple trying to take a piece of what they consider their own, exclusive pie. Comcast buying any network is a bad thing, and soon NBC programming won’t be available on any other cable system or satellite TV systems.
If he got fired does he qualify for unemployment benefits? One last poke in the eye to NBC watchers!
If he got fired does he qualify for unemployment benefits? One last poke in the eye to NBC watchers!
As TV consumers, we’ve been tossed out of the frying pan and straight into the inner most circle of hell.
Comcast has geo-monopolies. In areas where they provide cable, they’re the only ones who provide cable.
That’s fine. We discovered long ago that it’s better to *regulated* monopolies to utilities rather than having overlapping infrastructure where space was constrained. Although, we’ve more recently found that having infrastructure isolated from the service providers allows for competition and benefits the consumers even more.
That’s the problem here.
Comcast owns the cable. Comcast owns what goes into the cable (video, Internet, voice). That alone is too far and should be separated where practicable. But allowing *programming* in the cable by allowing Comcast to own NBC is just mind-blowingly f’d up.
Do the math, there’s more money in providing shows for $.99 than there is for broadcast/cable and getting (on average) $1.6 million in advertising revenue.
For the networks, like NBC, it’s worth transitioning entirely off broadcast. The battle is based on the greed for even better terms. But for Comcast, the issue becomes one of losing cable revenue and then increased costs for the Internet. Comcast will go kicking and screaming into the future.
Worse, Comcast will use its position to hold NBC content hostage in order to build competitive services…specifically On-Demand services where NBC content will be freely available.
Yes, that will make a lot of sense. You can watch NBC via Comcast On-Demand for free, but you can’t pay $.99 to watch it via iTunes (or other services).
As TV consumers, we’ve been tossed out of the frying pan and straight into the inner most circle of hell.
Comcast has geo-monopolies. In areas where they provide cable, they’re the only ones who provide cable.
That’s fine. We discovered long ago that it’s better to *regulated* monopolies to utilities rather than having overlapping infrastructure where space was constrained. Although, we’ve more recently found that having infrastructure isolated from the service providers allows for competition and benefits the consumers even more.
That’s the problem here.
Comcast owns the cable. Comcast owns what goes into the cable (video, Internet, voice). That alone is too far and should be separated where practicable. But allowing *programming* in the cable by allowing Comcast to own NBC is just mind-blowingly f’d up.
Do the math, there’s more money in providing shows for $.99 than there is for broadcast/cable and getting (on average) $1.6 million in advertising revenue.
For the networks, like NBC, it’s worth transitioning entirely off broadcast. The battle is based on the greed for even better terms. But for Comcast, the issue becomes one of losing cable revenue and then increased costs for the Internet. Comcast will go kicking and screaming into the future.
Worse, Comcast will use its position to hold NBC content hostage in order to build competitive services…specifically On-Demand services where NBC content will be freely available.
Yes, that will make a lot of sense. You can watch NBC via Comcast On-Demand for free, but you can’t pay $.99 to watch it via iTunes (or other services).
So what’s next for NBC?
Well, I believe Zucker’s replacement will not come from his current chain of command. Everyone isn’t just going to move up one slot.
This is a huge step for NBC and it will take time to root out all of the mindless people who have getting by on lip service.
They say a fish rots from the head down and the Frankenfish NBC has been serving for the last ten-years is nothing but scales and bone.
Aaron Sorkin would be a good replacement, but that’s just me.
Here’s my prediction for the future of NBC, Comcast will pull the plug on Hulu and adopt H.264 and invest heavily in iAds.
That’s just my O and I’m probably wrong, again.
So what’s next for NBC?
Well, I believe Zucker’s replacement will not come from his current chain of command. Everyone isn’t just going to move up one slot.
This is a huge step for NBC and it will take time to root out all of the mindless people who have getting by on lip service.
They say a fish rots from the head down and the Frankenfish NBC has been serving for the last ten-years is nothing but scales and bone.
Aaron Sorkin would be a good replacement, but that’s just me.
Here’s my prediction for the future of NBC, Comcast will pull the plug on Hulu and adopt H.264 and invest heavily in iAds.
That’s just my O and I’m probably wrong, again.
Jeff Zucker has always been the anti-Tartikoff. Not sure if Comcast has someone who can do any better, but Zucker has needed the rug pulled out from under him for a long time.
Perhaps he and Eisner can host a talk show together…
Jeff Zucker has always been the anti-Tartikoff. Not sure if Comcast has someone who can do any better, but Zucker has needed the rug pulled out from under him for a long time.
Perhaps he and Eisner can host a talk show together…
@Essence
to be replaced by Jack Donaghy
“Do not mock synergy”…
:-b
@Essence
to be replaced by Jack Donaghy
“Do not mock synergy”…
:-b
“Can you please move to another country before you jump into politics, Jeff?”
Have a care for whom you alienate, MDN.
“Can you please move to another country before you jump into politics, Jeff?”
Have a care for whom you alienate, MDN.
I’d also have to agree that most NBC programming sucked, with the exception of Friday Night Lights… which they didn’t really produce themselves. At least they stuck with it when it wasn’t getting many viewers, and I’ll give NBC, or Zucker, some credit for that. I doubt Comcast would have kept that show going beyond one season.
I’d also have to agree that most NBC programming sucked, with the exception of Friday Night Lights… which they didn’t really produce themselves. At least they stuck with it when it wasn’t getting many viewers, and I’ll give NBC, or Zucker, some credit for that. I doubt Comcast would have kept that show going beyond one season.