Today may be a very dark day in this history of this nation’s TV. The New York Times is reporting that nine months of coercing, cajoling and infeasible cash have persuaded General Electric to let Comcast buy NBC.
This potential downside of this deal is not far short of a nightmare – The people so underfunded with brains they moved Jay Leno from his throne on the Tonight Show to a deathwatch in prime-time have sold out to the people whose boss gave his girlfriend, Chelsea Handler a job, then expected the nation to call her a ‘star.’
The deal, which will see Comcast pay $6.5-billion in cash and $7.25-billion in assets and debt values NBC at about $30 billion. The implications, however, value its dwindling audience and their remaining intelligence at a far lower rate.
In return for saving NBC’s over-staffed rear from inevitable Chapter 11, Comcast will get a 51% stake in NBC’s cable streams – USA, Bravo, SyFy, CNBC, Telemundo and MSNBC.
NBC itself, and even Universal Studios are regarded as ‘only a small portion’ of the network’s gross value, so says their release.
Jeff Zucker, the current head of NBC-Universal will remain as chief executive, but would be answerable to Comcast’s Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Burke. And Mr. Zucker, the chief architect of NBC’s deliberate down-market slide and the hemorrhaging ratings his choices then caused, calls the decision “the start of a new era” for NBC.
Presumably one in which they don’t make shows that would insult a plank and attract audiences that could get lost in a phone booth?
But it could have been worse – Comcast tried to inhale the Walt Disney Company in 2004, but thankfully failed. And the word is that even Rupert Murdoch had considered a bid.
Can you imagine?? NBC’s whole stable of channels corrupted to be as ultra-right wing and malfeasant as Fox?
NBC once held a proud place in this nation’s fabric, but its recent self-inflicted malaise has since faded that luster. Comcast’s new broom could be just what it needs, but as long as Jeff Zucker and the over-paid suits who both caused and presided over its recent illness are allowed to remain, the wounds will not heal – and nor will the ratings.
NBC’s sale may be over, but its illness lives on. It might not be fatal, but let’s watch and see…
Post by: The Limey. Photo by BoucherMedia
