Comcast/NBC merger breaks my heart.
One of my dreams growing up was to buy a TV station. One of the over the air variety. The power for a select few to reach and connect with millions was something I desired. And I’m sure I was not alone.
Now, comes news that Comcast, one of the largest and richest cable television and broadband providers in the US is a player to purchase and contol NBC Universal. This is quite disturbing to the 7 year old inside of me.
I grew up without pay tv, until my father got DirecTV 3 months before I left for college. My media influence centered on free, over the air, ad-supported TV and Radio. Both are businesses destroyed by options from paid pipelines like cable, as well as legal and pirated content available online. Where is TV? Where is the spirit displayed by Weird Al Yancovic in UHF?
NBC made a bold move this year by programming Jay Leno at 10PM. This is the beginning of the end of the diverse, 60 year history of broadcast network television. The dual revenue streams of subscriptions and advertising are something that broadcast TV can’t compete with. ESPN has become the self proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports” for this reason. Their most recent acquisition was the college football Bowl Championship Series, which is moving from Fox and ABC to ESPN. Broadcast can’t compete.
Currently, the FCC prohibits one company from owning broadcast TV stations AND cable systems. Expect a potential Comcast deal to have General Electric be the sole owner of the NBC stations, with GE’s majority stake in NBCU turned into a minority ownership, with Comcast in charge. Would the FCC even allow this? It is quite a dangerous precedent. NBC made a bold move a few years ago acquiring the #2 US Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo. Will that momentum fall apart? Is Telemundo more valuable than My Network TV?
The digital transition has come and gone. It has left a lot of unprofitable TV stations with fancy new technology. A merger between NBCU and Comcast essentially concedes that broadcast TV is dead.
What do you think? Am I being too hard? Is this just Comcast’s way of keeping that cash machine known as Joel McHale in the family? Discuss.