NBC, the peacock network, should get a full-scale preening at the hands of its new entertainment chief once the Comcast Corp. takeover is complete.
Comcast has said that it’s appointing Bob Greenblatt, the programming executive who transformed Showtime into a pay TV powerhouse, to head NBC Entertainment.
Comcast on Tuesday gained approval for the $13.8 billion acquisition of NBC’s parent company, NBC Universal, from the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department.
Exactly what Greenblatt will do is unclear, but he’s a widely respected programmer in Hollywood, known for taking risks that pay off. At Showtime, he shepherded onto TV hit shows such as “The Tudors,” “Dexter” and “Weeds,” all of which have gone on for multiple seasons.
NBC, the fourth-ranked broadcaster, has only recently lived through the debacle in which it put host Jay Leno’s talk show on at 10 p.m. on weeknights, and replaced five hours a week of other programming in order to save money.
Local stations and viewers revolted and after a period of upheaval, Leno went back to hosting “The Tonight Show” at 11:35 p.m. Replacement Conan O’Brien left with a big severance check to host his own show on TBS, and things are somewhat back to normal.
NBC, last among the big broadcasters, has also been a drag on earnings of NBC Universal, although the money-losing Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year did more to hurt profits than its lackluster prime-time line-up.
Still, Greenblatt’s appointment to replace Jeff Gaspin was the most high-profile executive change in the shake-up that incoming NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke outlined in November.
The most recent changes at the network have been the mid-season additions of shows such as “The Cape” and “Harry’s Law,” and the reshaping of Thursday night into an all-comedy line-up.
NBC got its start in 1926 as the nation’s first radio network. Its parent company, the Radio Corporation of America, figured people would buy radios if they had interesting things to listen to.
The network began TV broadcasts in 1939 and produced TV’s first star in Milton Berle in 1948. Though it faced fierce competition over the decades, NBC was formidable in the 1990s, with Thursdays declared a “must-see” night of television.
In agreeing to sell a controlling stake to Comcast, General Electric Co. is unraveling part of the legacy of former Chairman Jack Welch. In 1986 he bought RCA and NBC to help his industrial conglomerate get a reliable source of cash while overseas manufacturing competition loomed.
GE obtained the Universal Pictures movie studio and theme parks from Vivendi SA in 2004 in a deal that gave Vivendi a 20 percent stake in the combined venture, NBC Universal.
Vivendi sold its stake to GE, which will keep a 49 percent stake in the venture for at least three-and-a-half years before winding it down, with Philadelphia-based Comcast in line to take greater control.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More