Rivals.com and Scout.com provide Sports Nation with an invaluable service: They keep us up-to-date, as we should be, on the top high school prospects being recruited for student-athlete status at our institutions of higher learning.
1. Contrary to the certainty of conspiracy theorists across the land, Gary Bettman and his nefarious band of henchmen are not pulling strings to ensure a win for either Pittsburgh or Washington on Saturday. You can bet, however, that they're crossing their fingers for a specific result -- not so much an entertaining match featuring highlight reel moments from both Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. They're just praying that the game ends in regulation.
BEIJING -- Television executives as a rule are an over-caffeinated bunch. They spit out platitudes with machine-gun frequency and sell their content with the same fervor Barnum sold his circus. That's why it's always interesting to check in with NBC Sports and Olympics officials during the second week of an Olympic Games. It's a dog-tired group, gutting out the final days after a month of little sleep. They've read the critics -- the NBC press office onsite gets faxed copies of every major publication daily -- and monitored the ratings with the circumspectness of a jeweler. If the news is good, you'll find smiles through the yawns.
No broadcaster shows how fast and far digital media has come than the U.S. network NBC Universal's plans for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In the 2006 Turin Winter Games, NBC streamed only one hockey game online. This year, NBC will stream 2,200 hours of 25 events live, with nearly the entire 4,000 hours of the games available on archive for North American Internet users.
NBC Universal has settled a $105 million lawsuit brought by a woman who claimed a televised sex sting by "Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator" drove her brother to kill himself
In the aftermath of the writer's strike - and with ever-increasing competition from the Internet, cable channels and digital video recorders - primetime network television isn't the all-powerful medium it used to be.
A new site named Hulu actually makes you want to watch TV shows online
When Fox and NBC Universal announced last March that they would join forces to put their TV shows online, the pundits of Silicon Valley howled with derision. Old media doesn't get the Internet, they said. Michael Arrington, the influential editor of TechCrunch, rattled off the reasons the project would never succeed and suggested that Fox and NBC quickly name their joint venture before it got stuck with the moniker insiders at Google had reportedly given it: Clown Co.
On the surface, the Writers Guild strike was a showdown between writers and suits over compensation from new methods of distributing content. But, looking back over the three-month walkout, it also provided handy cover for the powers that be to derail the creative community's gravy train and rethink the way TV shows are made.
So NBC, the network that carries the NHL in the United States that you don't need a Sherpa to find, is Peacock proud of its new flex scheduling. That's a fabulous way to spin that it has dropped regional games -- that were siphoning off the bottom line -- in favor of a single national game.
Rivals.com and Scout.com provide Sports Nation with an invaluable service: They keep us up-to-date, as we should be, on the top high school prospects being recruited for student-athlete status at our institutions of higher learning.
1. Contrary to the certainty of conspiracy theorists across the land, Gary Bettman and his nefarious band of henchmen are not pulling strings to ensure a win for either Pittsburgh or Washington on Saturday. You can bet, however, that they're crossing their fingers for a specific result -- not so much an entertaining match featuring highlight reel moments from both Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. They're just praying that the game ends in regulation.
BEIJING -- Television executives as a rule are an over-caffeinated bunch. They spit out platitudes with machine-gun frequency and sell their content with the same fervor Barnum sold his circus. That's why it's always interesting to check in with NBC Sports and Olympics officials during the second week of an Olympic Games. It's a dog-tired group, gutting out the final days after a month of little sleep. They've read the critics -- the NBC press office onsite gets faxed copies of every major publication daily -- and monitored the ratings with the circumspectness of a jeweler. If the news is good, you'll find smiles through the yawns.
No broadcaster shows how fast and far digital media has come than the U.S. network NBC Universal's plans for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In the 2006 Turin Winter Games, NBC streamed only one hockey game online. This year, NBC will stream 2,200 hours of 25 events live, with nearly the entire 4,000 hours of the games available on archive for North American Internet users.
NBC Universal has settled a $105 million lawsuit brought by a woman who claimed a televised sex sting by "Dateline NBC: To Catch A Predator" drove her brother to kill himself
In the aftermath of the writer's strike - and with ever-increasing competition from the Internet, cable channels and digital video recorders - primetime network television isn't the all-powerful medium it used to be.
A new site named Hulu actually makes you want to watch TV shows online
When Fox and NBC Universal announced last March that they would join forces to put their TV shows online, the pundits of Silicon Valley howled with derision. Old media doesn't get the Internet, they said. Michael Arrington, the influential editor of TechCrunch, rattled off the reasons the project would never succeed and suggested that Fox and NBC quickly name their joint venture before it got stuck with the moniker insiders at Google had reportedly given it: Clown Co.
On the surface, the Writers Guild strike was a showdown between writers and suits over compensation from new methods of distributing content. But, looking back over the three-month walkout, it also provided handy cover for the powers that be to derail the creative community's gravy train and rethink the way TV shows are made.
So NBC, the network that carries the NHL in the United States that you don't need a Sherpa to find, is Peacock proud of its new flex scheduling. That's a fabulous way to spin that it has dropped regional games -- that were siphoning off the bottom line -- in favor of a single national game.
For the first several years of its existence, the Golden Globes -- like many other Hollywood awards -- were an insular affair. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which began presenting the awards in 1944, was content to rent a ballroom at a local hotel, hand out trophies to stars or their representatives and generally sponsor a good time.
Every so often, events and a product converge with almost mystical perfection. Latest case in point: Just in time for spring training, Eternal Image of Farmington Hills, Mich., will introduce its line of officially licensed Major League caskets. Carrying a suggested price tag of $4,499, they follow the company's popular line of urns bearing team logos and colors.
An awards show becomes a press conference thanks to the writer's strike. But will anyone show? And what will they wear?
Sidney Crosby and Tim Tebow were born seven days apart in 1987. One man owns a Hart Trophy, the other a Heisman. Both will play on Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. and we won't ask where your television loyalties stand, mostly because we like the people in the NHL's public relations department.
Handed down since Moses was kvetching about having to cross the desert in his bare feet, Jewish humor emanated from Eastern Europe where the Hebrews overcame some seriously hellacious circumstances on the way to the Promised Land. "Laughter through tears," they called it.
The new year will see new shows from Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, says NBC.
Video courtesy NBC Miss Puerto Rico Ingrid Marie Rivera says her alleged pepper-spray incident – and the controversy it has sparked – will not trip her up on the road to the Miss Universe pageant.
This is "Green Week" at NBC Universal, a seven-day revelry of environment-themed content spread across the company's various TV channels and other properties. The 150 hours of programming - integrated into everything from news and sports to soaps and entertainment - is certainly a first for a major media company.
General Electric won't make a decision on whether or not to sell its NBC Universal unit until after it is done broadcasting the 2008 Olympics from Beijing, according to a published report.
NBC will start offering limited free downloads of shows such as "Heroes" and "The Office" as part of its bid to expand the digital distribution of its programs and compete with Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store, the network announced Wednesday.
In NASCAR circles they refer to the "silly season" as the flurry of personnel moves and team-switching between the last race of one season and the start of the next. Sports television has its own silly season, especially when it comes to the broadcast partners of the National Football League.
With many viewers apparently outside enjoying summer's last hurrah, the broadcast television networks hit a negative ratings trifecta only a few weeks before the start of the fall season.
NBC Universal and Amazon.com announced Tuesday that the online retailer's digital download service, dubbed Amazon Unbox, is now offering NBC television content in a variety of packages for download onto customers' computers.
A ventriloquist and exhibition football helped NBC snap Fox's 28-week winning streak among youthful viewers.
NBC Universal said Tuesday it will double the size of its cable operations outside the United States with the acquisition of Sparrowhawk Media, the private equity-backed owner of the Hallmark channel.
The broadcast networks plodded on with mostly reruns and reality fare -- at least some of those shows made a little music.
Fired radio host Don Imus settled his lawsuit with CBS Radio this week, pulling down $20 million amid talk that he is plotting a return to the airwaves.
When Isaiah Washington was fired from Grey's Anatomy, it took nothing short of bionic powers to revive his career.
So NBC has let Bud Collins go after 35 years at Wimbledon. It won't, I'm sure, make an iota of difference in the ratings. Nobody who wants to watch Wimbledon next summer is going to skip it because Collins isn't on -- especially since NBC had cut back his role to the bare minimum anyhow.
The good news: You've just been promoted to run a major network. The bad news: It's ranked four out of four. Such is the lot of Marc Graboff, who was recently named co-head of NBC, where he'll share the top job with Ben Silverman, producer of "Ugly Betty" and "The Office."
Weekend Today co-anchor Campbell Brown and her husband, Dan Senor, are going to be parents, the NBC newswoman announced on Sunday's show.
Cable television shows, unless they are the series finale of "The Sopranos," often don't generate the types of ratings that come anything close to what even the least-watched programs on the free broadcast networks get. But cable TV is actually among the hotter segments of the media business these days.
No joke. I get a call this afternoon from a buddy of mine, livid about NBC's decision to dump overtime of the elimination game between Buffalo and Ottawa onto Versus.
The big TV networks will all unveil their new shows for the fall in New York City next week. But does anyone still care?
Walking through the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas, Kit Cheung could easily be mistaken for a whale on a baccarat bender. But while Cheung is placing a big bet in this town - $25 million, in fact - he'...
Amidst the maelstrom of must-dos hitting NBC Universal's new CEO - boot Don Imus, manage Alec Baldwin, turn around NBC, determine the company's digital future - Jeff Zucker has been trying to get to know his 16,000 employees. He's been holding monthly lunches and breakfasts with small groups.
Lately the script of Jeff Zucker's life seems plucked from the pages of a sitcom. Just consider: In the three months since ascending to the CEO position at NBC Universal, he has had to deal with a ...
In early April, shortly before Alec Baldwin committed his voicemail eruption (calling his 11-year-old daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig"), the star of NBC's 30 Rock yukked it up with NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker on the 52nd floor of the real 30 Rock - Manhattan's GE Building.
Brandy is being replaced by Sharon Osbourne as a judge on NBC's "America's Got Talent."
General Electric chairman and chief executive officer Jeff Immelt had many great things to say about his company's NBC Universal unit back in January when GE reported its fourth-quarter results.
In 1986, when Robert Wright went from running GE's finance division to running NBC, David Letterman joked that his new boss was going to order up a miniseries on the toaster oven. Twenty-one years ...
"That was more or less made-up stupid drivel," says General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt about a story in Wednesday's New York Post, which speculates that he is considering a sale of NBC Universal.
This season's most popular new television character is a geeky Japanese office worker who devours comic books and has an encyclopedic knowledge of "Star Trek." But Hiro Nakamura is no ordinary Trek...
It's been a rough couple of years for NBC. But thanks to new hits "Heroes" and "Sunday Night Football" and a revival for stalwarts like "ER," the Peacock Network is actually in contention for the ratings lead among the key 18-49 year-old age group that's lusted after by marketers.
The Peacock Network may be making a comeback in the primetimes ratings race this season. But that's not enough to keep NBC's parent company from taking some major steps to improve profitability.
NBC is getting sued by a garbage disposal maker that claims the network's new hit show "Heroes" casts its product in a negative light. You can't make this stuff up.
Remember when NBC was the king of prime-time TV in the 80s and 90s? Comedies like "The Cosby Show", "Cheers", "Seinfeld" and "Friends" helped the network attract viewers (and advertisers) by the millions, year-in and year-out.
NBC finally may show some signs of life this year. That's because the athletic ability of 300-pound linemen will do for the network what a lousy "Friends" spinoff and Martha Stewart couldn't: give NBC a real hit.
NBC will air National Football League games this fall for the first time since the end of the 1997 season. And now, the network is also hoping to make a splash in the increasingly popular fantasy football realm as well.
On Monday NBC will launch a massive new web photo bank featuring millions of images from its past and present television content, said the company.
NBC has inked a deal with advertising client Toyota to prove its viewers are paying attention to the network's shows and are more likely to remember the ad spots, according to a story in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
The ratings nightmare that NBC has found itself in for the past few years may finally come to an end this fall.
Television advertising executives are biting their nails this year as advance ad sales fall short of last year's tally, according to a report Wednesday.
NBC has blinked.
The ability to laugh at oneself is said to be key to a healthy lifestyle. If that's truly the case, then executives at the NBC television network must be pretty darn healthy.
The NBC television network, struggling for the past two seasons to replace its past comedy blockbusters, switched gears Monday and unveiled a prime-time schedule heavy on drama, including a soap opera-like view on show business in "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip."
Jeff Zucker used to be one of the most confident emcees at the annual broadcast television "upfront" in New York, where networks unveil their forthcoming seasons to advertisers.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Spring may only recently have sprung but for major TV networks and advertisers, their attention is already starting to turn to autumn.
On a Friday around 11 A.M. at the end of his second week back at work, Dick Ebersol was running a meeting in his 15th-floor office at NBC when he got the phone call he'd been waiting for. National ...
Dick Ebersol, the man who has brought the NFL to NBC, is on the spot to lead a turnaround of the network. Nervous execs at NBC are counting on "Sunday Night Football" - which this fall will replace ABC's "Monday Night Football" as the premier primetime game - to be a top 20 hit and the platform the network desperately needs to promote its fall slate.
NBC put out a serious fire this weekend, but critics aren't so sure they should have.
After a mock rap video by actress Natalie Portman from NBC's Saturday Night Live hit YouTube and other websites, NBC lawyers launched a cease-and-desist campaign to prevent the clip from appearing anywhere besides nbc.com. The move followed an earlier push to fight copyright infringement of SNL's "Lazy Sunday" video. Those were boneheaded moves, say authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba on their Church of the Customer blog. Limiting SNL videos to NBC's own website and to official sales channels like iTunes, they argue, kills the viral effect that prompted hundreds of thousands of Web users to download and share them -- a phenomenon that has given the venerable-but-tired SNL new buzz.
Media and entertainment conglomerate NBC Universal said Monday it would acquire iVillage Inc., operator of a network of Web sites for women, for $600 million in a bid to bolster its Internet strategy.
The Olympics experience for NBC certainly wasn't as bad as it was for say, Bode Miller.
HIT Flower power.
NBC is hoping for some gold-medal worthy ratings this month.
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I caught a lengthy but entertaining promo for the Winter Olympics on NBC. It consisted of ice skaters skating, plus a song that combined hip-hop and arena rock by a group we didn't know.
Being a media company isn't as glamorous as it used to be. Just ask the management teams of Time Warner, Disney and Viacom...or their investors.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - NBC will probably win the ratings equivalent of a gold medal in February when it airs the Winter Olympics from Turin, Italy. Who doesn't love to watch lugeing?
(or even anything like this), you're in luck: The three biggest wireless carriers in the country--Cingular, Sprint and Verizon Wireless--have incorporated video programming into their mobile-phone service. ...
The old dogs of television, the broadcast networks, have learned some new and potentially lucrative tricks.
Does the idea of being away from the television on game day give you the shakes? When you come home, do you--even before you put down your keys--reach for the remote? If you're somewhat like this (...
NBC and Time Warner Cable announced a joint venture Monday that will allow cable company customers to catch up on their favorite network programs.
GE's NBC Universal unit revised its offer to independent film studio DreamWorks, lowering its bid from $1.6 billion to $1.45 billion, according to a news report published Monday.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's only one week into the new fall television season but a few things are already clear.
Bob Wright stepped into the big leagues of media last year, when he led NBC's merger with Vivendi Universal Entertainment. The megadeal turned the TV network chief into a major Hollywood player, wi...
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Can NBC pull itself out of its ratings slump and become this year's ABC?
The Aruban judge overseeing the case against suspects in the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway ordered NBC not to broadcast an interview with Joran van der Sloot, his attorney told CNN.
NBC Universal is looking at creating a position of czar of its news division and is talking to some top media executives about the possible post, according to a published report.
NBC is considering putting its broadcast news division and its cable channels CNBC and MSNBC under one roof and basing the operation in New Jersey, according to a report Thursday.
NBC, once the preening Peacock of prime time, has already fallen from first to worst in the ratings race. Now it's paying for that: Last week the network began cutting its "upfront" ad prices, whic...
John Madden is moving to NBC when the network resumes broadcasting National Football League games in the 2006-07 season, the network announced Wednesday.
As expected, a sharp drop in ratings this past season is costing NBC Television Group hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenues, according to reports Monday.
Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal Television Group, has to be feeling the pressure now.
Five months after Motley Crue's lead singer shouted the F-word on national television, the heavy metal band has launched a legal battle that could transform how indecency is defined -- and punished.
NBC once seemed untouchable on Thursday nights, the biggest evening of the week for young adult television viewers and a huge draw for key advertisers, notably movie studios looking to spur box office sales.
NBC Universal on Monday provided some key details of a much-publicized plan for a spinoff of "The Apprentice" starring Martha Stewart.
A year after acquiring Universal Studios, NBC Universal chief Bob Wright says he's not done shopping yet, a newspaper report said Monday.
For those who hate the shift of sports from free broadcast to pay television, this week was definitely good news/bad news time.
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) continued its move into the television business by announcing a deal with NBC Universal Cable to carry all 12 of its cable networks, as well as NBC and other programming, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported.
They aren't the desperate ladies of Wisteria Lane, but the executives in charge of the top four broadcast networks are gearing up for a cat fight all their own.
THE LATE NBC PROGRAMMING WHIZ BRANDON TARTIKOFF liked to say that television is a business of hits and stars. So it comes as a surprise that his most enduring legacy to television is a program that...
A man who claims NBC Universal, Donald Trump and the creator of NBC's "The Apprentice" stole his idea has taken his case to state court.
NBC Universal on Monday said it will air a live benefit special across all of its broadcast and cable platforms on Saturday, January 15. The program is intended to raise money for the victims of the Asian tsunami.
Carrie Bradshaw is revered on Madison Avenue for turning Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo into household names.
It seems everyone got the memo.
NBC is preparing to put its new animated television show "Father of the Pride" on ice, according to a published report.
Minus "Friends" or any big breakout hits, NBC has stumbled out of the starting gate this TV season.
After more than a decade as the dominant broadcast network, NBC has seen its viewership tumble, enduring double-digit ratings declines in total viewers and viewers aged 18 to 49, according to a newspaper report Wednesday.
In an uncertain world, NBC has decided to give us all something to hold onto -- Conan O'Brien is going to take over hosting "The Tonight Show" when Jay Leno retires ... in five years.
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