Soccer fans in the U.S. are used to the complications of watching Premier League games, which often require getting up at an ungodly hour to watch British teams like Manchester United or Chelsea FC at a bar with a fancy cable sports package. They’ll have another option this summer, however. [More]
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More Details Revealed About Comcast’s Planned Streaming Service
By 4.10.17
Bit by bit we’re beginning to build an idea of what Comcast’s “it-will-launch-someday” streaming service will look like when that day comes. And no surprise here, the over-the-top option — rumored to be called Xfinity Instant TV — will come with programs from Comcast-owned NBCUniversal. [More]
AT&T Confirms Live Access To NBC Is Still Mobile-Only On ‘DirecTV Now’
By 11.30.16
Earlier this week at the official launch event for the DirecTV Now live-TV streaming service, I and others noticed that while the live feed for the local NBC affiliate was showing up on the DirecTV Now mobile app, the channel was absent from the lineup of stations available for viewing on your actual TV. AT&T staff that we spoke to at the event insisted that this would not be the case when the service launched, but DirecTV Now is now live — and NBC is still not working on users’ TV sets. [More]
NFL Denies It Is Looking To Get Rid Of Thursday Night Football
By 11.29.16
It hasn’t been a banner year for the NFL, with ratings now sagging for what had seemed to be an unstoppable TV sports juggernaut. Now the league is fending off rumors that it has plans to get rid of meh-rated Thursday Night Football when its current TV deals are expired. [More]
NBC Universal Will Make Original “Shows” For Snapchat
By 8.8.16
A number of high-profile entertainment companies are already programming content for Snapchat, but for the most part it’s repurposed stories, photos, list-icles, and infographics that has seen life elsewhere in the world. However, NBC Universal seems to believe Snapchat could be a platform for exclusive original content. [More]
‘Biggest Loser’ Doctor Sues Former Contestant, New York Post Over Scandalous Story
By 6.3.16
About two weeks ago, several former contestants on NBC weight-loss competition The Biggest Loser spoke to the NY Post, publicly accusing trainers, show staff, and the show’s resident physician, Dr. Robert Huizenga of a variety of questionable behaviors. Now “Dr. H” is firing back with a lawsuit against both the Post and one of the former “losers.” [More]
Your Kids’ Lesson Plans Are Being Brought To You By Pfizer, WD-40, & Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
By 6.2.16
It’s one thing for a huge drug company, manufacturer, trade group, or media conglomerate to use their considerable coffers to fund educational programs, but what about when the ultimate goal of those programs is to just advertise products, movies, and TV shows to kids and their parents under the guise of education? [More]
Former Biggest Loser Contestants Allege Show Provided Them With Ephedra, Left Them With Eating Disorders
By 5.23.16
For 17 seasons, NBC’s The Biggest Loser has proven that anyone can lose weight with a strict diet, lots of exercise, access to world-class trainers and training facilities, a few months away from your job and family, the incentive of a huge cash reward, and the knowledge that millions of TV viewers are scrutinizing your every move. According to some former contestants, it also involved some show-provided pills. [More]
The Pilot Of NBC’s ‘Superstore’ Was Filmed Inside A Real Kmart
By 2.8.16
What happens when a TV production team wants to make a show set in a big-box discount store, but can’t build an entire store set because they’re only filming a pilot episode? To film “Superstore,” a new (and funny) show on NBC, they lightly remodeled a Kmart store in Burbank, California, and used it as their set… while the store remained open. [More]
NFL Refuses To Purchase The Only Known Tape Of First Super Bowl
By 2.3.16
Around 4pm ET on Sunday, Jan. 15, 1967, the National Football League’s Green Bay Packers squared off against the American Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs in the first ever Super Bowl. Some 50 million people watched the game, simulcast on both NBC and CBS, but neither network retained their footage of the historic event — and the one guy that does have a tape of the game isn’t allowed to sell it. [More]
NBC To Get In On That Thursday Night Football Lovin’
By 2.1.16
For the last couple of seasons, CBS has been — with the exception of Thanksgiving night — the NFL’s sole dance partner on Thursday nights. But starting next season, CBS will have to get used to the idea of the league spending time romancing another “friend” — NBC. [More]
Netflix Laughs Off NBC’s Obsession With Streaming Service’s Ratings
By 1.18.16
Last week, NBC spent a good chunk of its Television Critics Association press event claiming that it has reliable Netflix ratings, and that once people bore of binge-watching a show they go back to “watching TV the way that God intended.” Now Netflix wants to know why NBC is wasting its time focusing on something other than NBC. [More]
NBC Exec: Viewers Always Come Back From Binges, Netflix Not A “Consistent” Threat
By 1.15.16
There’s obviously some disruption afoot in the TV marketplace of late. Broadcast and cable networks continue to think that they represent TV. Netflix, Amazon, and an up-and-coming generation of cord-cutters seem to disagree. And yet for all money the young whippersnapper businesses seem to get from the young whippersnapper audiences, at least one member of the old guard thinks it’s all so much chaff in the wind. [More]
Comcast Loves Corporate Synergy: Announces Jimmy Fallon Ride At Universal Studios
By 10.28.15
First things first: We have nothing against Jimmy Fallon. He seems like a nice enough guy and we’ve even enjoyed watching his show on occasion. But Fallon, just like any other talk show host, is not exactly someone you’d think to base a theme park ride on. That is, unless you’re Comcast and looking to load up your Universal Studios Orlando park with rides from brands you already control. [More]
Comcast Should Pay You For Sitting Through All Its Product Placement In Sharknado 3
By 7.21.15
If you’re one of the 1,743 people who are still amused by the whole Sharknado phenomenon, then you should consider yourself warned that the latest entry into the self-consciously trashy TV franchise is apparently not much more than an extended commercial for numerous Comcast-owned brands. [More]
NBC Cooking Up Streaming Service For Its Comedic Offerings
By 3.3.15
Much like Disney’s recent revelation that it now owns a bunch of Star Wars and Marvel stuff might justify standalone streaming services, NBC has reportedly awoken to the notion that it might be able to make some money selling access to its comedy library. [More]
NBC Now Streaming Live Via App, But Only In Certain Markets
By 2.19.15
Years after other ABC opened up its live network feed to online streaming, NBC is finally allowing people to access its shows live online via the network’s Android and iOS app — but only in certain markets and with the now-common requirement of having a pay-TV subscription. [More]
NBC To Stream Super Bowl To Convince People To Buy Cable
By 1.20.15
Rather than requiring that online viewers prove they have cable TV subscriptions in order to watch its live stream of the Super Bowl, NBC has decided that giving un-cabled Americans online access to the year’s biggest non-curling single-night sporting event is the perfect opportunity to convince people to ante-up for pay-TV. [More]
