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That’s according to parent company General Electric which just reported that overall revenues dropped 9% and its profit spiraled down 35% in the 1st Quarter of this year. But among segment profit, NBC Universal was a major -45% bummer because of recessionary, advertising, programming and product woes. According to CNBC, broadcasting, O&Os and DVD sales really suffered, though cable not so much. So much for GE being “happy” it’s got other diversified companies like NBC Uni under its big tent to take the pressure off its GE Finance. ”While Cable continued to deliver double-digit growth, NBC Universal had a tougher performance overall due to a soft advertising market and fewer major DVD releases compared to a year ago,” GE Chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt said. I don’t for the life of me see how GE chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt can continue to sound so upbeat as he did again today when his company has lost 67% of its market capitalization in the past year. On the other hand, the way I hear it, he’s surrounded himself with “Yes” men like Jeff Zucker, Mr. Manager For Margins (Not Ratings). But he also said estimated stress test results show the conglomerate won’t need to raise additional capital “even in the Fed’s adverse-case scenario”. There’ll be a conference call later this AM.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I’m surprised it’s only 45%.
There’s only one show I watched on NBC, and judging by the ratings, I was the only one who watched that show.
I get the feeling that the whole NBC-Universal organization needs a massive shake-up from the top-down. An infinite number of monkeys in an infinite number of boardrooms would eventually come up with a better business plan for NBC than the current crop in the head office.
Get rid of that no talent, inept Jeff Zuker!!!! How many time s has he had egg on his face?????? What a joke NBC has become under that fool!!!!!!
I thought there was a typo and it was really 450%.
I’ve tried. I watched ‘Parks and Recreation’ – ugh. It’s like they’re not even trying to entertain. And ‘The Office’? It’s now a labor to sit through 30 minutes (or 31) of this drivel.
Maybe Zucker will accidently watch CBS one evening and see ‘Big Bang’ and ‘Harper’s Island’ and then have an epiphany. Scratch that – he’s too used to snoring in front of the TV while NBC is on.
NBCUniveresal needs major reegineering. First jettison MSNBC since it’s ratings are in the dumpster. Let CNBC spin out on its own; second get rid Zucker and Immelt.Revamp MSNBC by firing Rachel Maddow,send Keith Oberman back to the sports desk; cancel the Ed Schultz show. Replace Chris Matthews with someone younger. But let Scifi,USA takeover NBC Universal becouse of thier strong performances
How could NBC fail when they are concentrating on important issues like calling CNBC chiefs together secretly to soften the criticism of Barack Obama’s wall street moves.
When are you going to write about Southland on NBC?
Or because it’s a good news story for the network you despise then you’ll just ignore it?
Savvy, if you seriously think Big Bang and Harper’s Soon to Be Sunk Island are better than The Office, you may be in worse shape than Zucker!
^^Or that ABC has lost more viewers than any other network over since 2006.
I believe Jeff Zucker goofed when he thought he could tell the anchors and divison heads about the obama crticisms. They’re not dumb they know their corporation is in trouble.
errol,
kind of like it was ignored when the Boston affiliate backdowned and said it would be airing Leno at 10pm.
(its a story when they say they won’t air NBC’s program, but when they say they will be airing it afterall its not a story)
Jeff Zuker how does he keep his job?
He should have his own reality show–It can show what he does all day to keep NBC in last place.
They could name it YesMan.
Does anyone even watch that station. I have to admit I watch Biggest Loser — thats it. There is nothing on there. They should copy Torchwood or Primevil from BBC AMerica and they would have 2 hits.
I tried Parks and Rec… I try The Office… I even tried Kings… Just sell this arm of the company, GE. Please. Let’s get a real team in there making real decisions. Like Nike: Jut Do It. It will be better for America
MSNBC has good ratings. Overall Cable does very well. What needs revamping is the broadcast network. They need to stop focusing on certain demos like young men (who are fucking fickle TV viewers) and go for the broad audience share like CBS does. All NBC needs is 2 big hits for a season and a turnaround can begin.
Southland and Kings are 2 good shows, but they need a broad Mentalist type of ratings getter to turn it around. Parks and Recreation is NOT gonna do it.
Also keep your bias regarding MSNBC to another board. That network (even with it’s left slant) is doing it’s job to speak to a certain audience and it is getting ratings results. Don’t fabricate facts because you hate the network.
Let’s face it, the reason ratings are down is because of Silverman, who just can’t make the switch from producer to executive. It’s just not working. He’s still thinking like a producer. He still thinks that if he spends more on the pilot, audiences will like it more. There is actually a reason for executives. The reason is to balance what producers/showrunners/writers want with financial reality and what audiences actually respond to. Producers throw shit on the wall till something sticks. Sure, some producers start off with better shit, but their process is the same.
However, I’m calling this move right now: NBC is going to take Stargate: Universe from Sci-Fi (SyFy, whatever) and turn it into its version of Lost. That is, if anyone has an IQ point to spare over there. It’s a solid franchise with a large fanbase and the potential to appeal to mainstream. Not to mention which its the only new show in NBC’s pocket right now that has any anticipation whatsoever.
Does Immelt actually have to murder someone before they fire his sorry ass? Good god.
They need to fire Zucker -stat! He started this mess a few years ago. Who remembers when NBC was the Tiffany Network? Now with Zucker and Silverman in charge, there’s not only nothing to watch on the channel, they are x-ing out 5 hours of programming a week to shoehorn in Jay Leno’s tired monologue. When will GE wake up and get rid of these bozos? I believe in network TV, and I know it can work, but not the way these guys are running it.
Give the people what they want and they will come…? The problem is that somewhere NBC, and most of the other networks, stop being in the entertainment business. Most of the suits never understood it very well from the very beginning and it progressively got worse. So what we get is re-cycle junk based on previous junk. True it is hard to be original or come up with interesting takes on the old, so why try….right? Just like Detroit forgot that they were in the “car” business Hollywood after all the mergers and deals forgot that the original purpose was to make people laugh, cry and forget their woes for a time. And NBC is one of the biggest losers as a result.
First thing. Jay Leno has his dedicated and loyal solid base that will carry him just fine. Jeff Zucker can bring back Must-See-TV as he did wonderfully in the 90′s and early 2000′s. Frasier, Friends, Will and Grace and so many other shows did him in good standing for a long time. NBC needs to find that same high quality programming on its Network NBC. Jeff can do it all over again BUT he may need to look for some subordinates below him to be wiser in programming for Primetime. I cannot blame Jeff Zucker for everything. But he does sign off on all decisions too.
MSNBC is Ok BUT needs more original programming and more anchors of diverse races and ethnic background. In the wake of the Don Imus incident, MSNBC’s Griffin swore up and down that he would implement racial diversity into the morning program but his Morning Joe remains caucasian with Joe, Mika and Willie. There is really no change so the discrepancies are there. At least Don Imus has a couple of African-Americans as steady and regular on his cast. So there was some false impressions and false statements coming from Griffin and Zucker that they would improve on their racial disparities in their anchors and programming. The same exists with MSNBC Primetime programming with having no race/ethnic anchors for their programming and mostly same old same old. Keep Keith Olbermann, stop doing repeats of Hardball (Chris Matthews should only get one hour daily), keep Rachel Maddow for awhile longer, find a good fit for David Shuster, get rid of this new Ed show thing (this is going to be a disaster), and find a good interview show in Primetime. Maybe hire Tavis Smiley for a show and maybe hire a hispanic anchor too. Look for an asian anchor too. Quit having Alex Witt work so many hours on a Saturday and Sunday. Give her a break and find someone who can share weekends to give Alex a weekend off here and there.
The financial side of things have the news anchors and analyists, Today show cast, among others receiving such high salaries that it destroys other programming or weakens the caliber of other shows because frankly speaking NBC/UNI runs out of cash for anything else. The distribution of funding sources is really bad. Spread out the wealth and shore up in areas of weakness in shows that are not performing adequately due to lack of funding.
NBC can come back strong and get back on top but some really tough choices will have to be made and some better fairness and quality will have to happen across the board for this network to succeed. Find sitcoms that will work. Look for Drama’s that are watchable. Hopefully Southland will be the key to turning around this network. Better communications for the Department heads with Jeff Zucker and if it means more meetings and sessions, then do whatever it will take and remember the glory years and maybe go back and pick up on some of the great choices and decisions that were made back then and do it again. NBC never had a problem with taking a risk or chance before, why is it so hard to make a decision and take a risk, Mr. Jeff Zucker? What is holding this network back?
NBC is in deep doo-doo now cause they got Blago’s name attached to their ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Outta Here’ show. They’re messing with the wrong people…
Susie Q – How could it be Silverman’s fault? NBC’s terrible ratings predate his arrival by at least 6 years!
southland looks like “Colors” 2009
I’m tired of beating up on NBC/U.
It’s too easy.
NBC is in the network version of a death spiral. The plunge in profitis for NBC-Universal and GE are incredible. This will lead to cutbacks in the quality of the already abysmal programming.
I think it’s consensus around town that Leno at 10 p.m. will fail. Many affiliates apparently don’t want to air it, one NBC exec even implied it was a mistake, and whatever audience the show does draw will be OLD; Parks and Recreation has no chance of being the hit NBC was hoping; without John Madden, even Sunday Night Football will no longer be a juggernaut…the network simply has nothing to offer.
Dear Stop It,
The FACTS regarding MSNBC are this, they are getting beaten like a drum by their competition; the only results they are getting are poor ones. A typical day for cable news looks like:
Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for April 16, 2009
P2+ Total Day
FNC – 1,443,000 viewers
CNN – 725,000 viewers
MSNBC –441,000 viewers
CNBC – 234,000 viewers
HLN – 375,000 viewers
P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 3,226,000 viewers
CNN—1,161,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,014,000 viewers
CNBC – 186,000 viewers
HLN – 773,000 viewers