Unlike the recent United/Continental merger, which blazed through its regulatory hurdles like something that goes really fast through something else, the marriage of NBC Universal and Comcast isn’t moving as speedily. Yesterday, the FCC hit both bride and groom with a handful of questions it wants answered before giving its blessing to the union. [More]
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L.A. Times Replaces Front Page With Fake 'Law & Order' News; L.A. Times Readers Really Pissed
By 10.1.10
Earlier this week, the L.A. Times ran a fake front page — chock full of stories intended to sell NBC’s new L.A.-based Law & Order franchise — and guess what? Readers of the paper weren’t exactly pleased with the bit of crass badvertising. [More]
Tell The FCC To Nix The NBC Comcast Deal
By 9.28.10
If you don’t want Comcast to own NBC, you can use this handy dandy online petition Consumers Union put together for you to tell the FCC. As the agency continue to mull over the deal, perhaps your opinion may help sway theirs. But why might Kabletown owning the peacock be bad for consumers? [More]
Netflix/NBC Deal Allows Streaming Of All SNL Episodes, Lots Of Battlestar Galactica
By 9.27.10
Fresh off its invasion of Canada, Netflix recently announced a deal with NBC/Universal that will add a bunch of the entertainment company’s network and cable TV offerings to Netflix’s streaming service. [More]
Ben Popken On NPR This Morning Re: Comcast NBC Merger
By 7.13.10
I was on NPR this morning chiming in about the Comcast NBC merger that’s hurtling like a freight train through Washington (spoiler alert: not a fan). Here’s the clip. At the end, the reporter says that when he asked Comcast about their coming first in our Worst Company in America contest, they dismissed the entire affair as a “cheap stunt.” We take offense. A trophy that cost $30 and had to be air-mailed from Japan is not cheap. [More]
Al Franken Hates The NBC/Comcast Merger More Than Anyone Has Ever Hated Anything
By 6.24.10
Former NBC employee and current US Senator, Al Franken, has filed an 11-page letter of concern with the FCC stating that he “firmly believe[s] that the ComcastINBCU merger should be rejected. The harms caused by this merger are significant and long lasting. No set of promises or conditions, no matter how well-intentioned, can sufficiently mitigate those harms.” [More]
Congresswoman Hints That Comcast May Have Tried To Buy Her Support
By 6.8.10
As the merger of Worst Company In America 2010 and only-worth-watching-for-Biggest-Loser network NBC continues to limp forward through the bureaucratic maze, a California Congresswoman hinted not so subtly yesterday that the cable giant had contacted her in a not-exactly-professional manner. [More]
Conan O'Brien's Inner Monologue During His 60 Minutes Interview
By 5.4.10
As you are probably aware, we tried to help Mr. CoCo by offering EECB information for NBC executives. It didn’t work, but people seemed to accept the fact that we were now writing about Conan O’Brien which, editorially, we find refreshing. NBC even ended up in the Worst Company In America bracket, though that might have also been due to contact dermatitis from Comcast. Anyhow, Conan was on 60 Minutes the other day and now some genius has added subtitles of what the bearded ex-host was really thinking as he politely declined to unload on Jay Leno. We’re sorry our EECB didn’t help you, CoCo, but we still love you. [More]
Walmart Regains Top Spot On Fortune 500 List
By 4.15.10
With over $408 billion in revenue, Walmart has regained the coveted top spot on the annual Fortune 500 list. The mega retailer had slipped to #2 behind Exxon Mobil on last year’s list after two consecutive #1 years in 2007 and 2008. [More]
Worst Company In America 2010: Ticketmaster VS NBC
By 3.26.10
It’s a media merger throw down! Ticketmaster merged with LiveNation because the thought of being able to buy tickets from more than one company apparently causes a breakdown in the fabric of spacetime. NBC is about to merge with Kabletown, wait, that sounds wrong, Xfinity, wait… Comcast, that’s it. [More]
Did NBC's Coverage Of The Winter Olympics Suck?
By 3.1.10
As a product, NBC’s broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics seemed pretty disappointing to a lot of online users. TechCrunch points out that a recent analysis of comments on Twitter, blogs, and forums, shows a wide range of dissatisfaction with NBC’s coverage, with the biggest percentage focused on content: 19% of the complaints were about the tape delay of events (what a former NBC sports exec once called “plausibly live”), and 20% were about there not being enough actual sporting events shown. [More]
Hey Leno, Team CoCo Fixed Your "Tonight Show" Commercial For You
By 2.22.10
NBC has been running a commercial featuring Jay Leno in one of his 9 f*ckzillion automobiles. In this commercial, he is seen driving while the Beatles song “Get Back” plays. This song includes the lyrics “get back to where you once belonged.” Now someone who we can only assume is part of Team CoCo has remixed the commercial with a, um, different song. Enjoy. [More]
Why Does NBC Hate Hockey/Events People Want To Watch?
By 2.22.10
On paper, Sunday night’s Olympic ice hockey game between the U.S. and Canadian teams would have seemed like a marquee event, something deserving of prime time coverage in HD. But NBC relegated coverage of the game to sibling channel MSNBC, which isn’t available in HD to a large number of viewers. [More]
NBC Perfectly Happy With Angering Winter Olympics Fans
By 2.18.10
When it was announced several years ago that the 2010 Winter Olympics would be held in Vancouver, many people in North America — especially those in the Pacific time zone — were relieved. Finally, they’d be able to see the major events live, instead of on the tape delay they’d come to expect from recent Olympics in Europe, Asia and Australia. Alas, NBC has decided, despite having nearly 24-hour coverage spread out over several channels, to irritate millions of viewers by continuing to use tape delay. [More]
NBC's Olympic Coverage Fails At Geography
By 2.14.10
Someone over at NBC Sports is due to get a tongue-lashing over this. At the end of Sunday night’s coverage of pairs figure skating, the network listed the leading pairs… but managed to get all of the countries and flags wrong. [More]
Another Lawsuit Filed Against Biggest Loser Trainer Jillian Michaels
By 2.12.10
Just a few days after a California woman filed a lawsuit against Jillian Michaels, one the hard-nosed trainers on NBC weight loss hit The Biggest Loser, alleging false advertising for her Maximum Strength Calorie Control diet supplement, a second purchaser of the product has filed a similar claim. [More]
Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels Target Of False Advertising Lawsuit
By 2.10.10
On NBC’s The Biggest Loser, trainer Jillian Michaels is known for her no-bull-allowed attitude in the gym as she attempts to help her obese pupils drop massive amounts of weight in a very short time. But one woman is now seeking class-action status for a lawsuit that claims Jillian should have had the same no-nonsense stance toward a diet supplement she’s lent her name to. [More]
Al Franken Makes Comcast's CEO Look Like A Tool
By 2.5.10
Love him or hate him, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), former employee of NBC, made Comcast’s befuddled CEO Brian “Comcatastrophe” Roberts look like a complete tool during yesterday’s hearing on the proposed Comcast/NBC mergepocalypse. [More]
