Home Media Headlines Jeff Zucker: “I think we’ve reached the bottom”

Jeff Zucker: “I think we’ve reached the bottom”

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The 'Brains' of NBC
The 'Brains' of NBC

In a recent CNBC interview, NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker said what could possibly be the quote of the month… year…

“I think we’ve reached the bottom”

I’m not quite sure what’s funnier; The fact he thinks this is rock bottom, or the fact that he’s actually mentioning how low NBCU has sunk. If anyone had any doubts about the current state of NBCUni, the premier of their summer hit I’m a Celeberty… Get me out of here!” crushed any remaining hope. The big kicker? The continuation to the above quote.

“[…]We’ve seen some signs of improvement. Our local TV business for the 3rd quarter, our local television stations, seem to be improving.”

Really?!?!!!!?! I’m sorry, but where the hell is NBC seeing improvement of their “local TV business?” Perhaps I’m biased because I’ve witnessed the full decline of what was once the number one TV station in the country. I just cannot seem to find any NBC O&O TV station showing any signs of improvement. In fact, I can’t think of one NBC O&O station that’s number one in the ratings… Now, in full disclosure, I didn’t dig too far into that topic; but just thinking off the top of my head, I can’t think of any.

“It’s not what we want it to be, but it’s a little better’” Said Zucker.

I’ll say.

“Television advertising as a whole feels a little better on the national scale,” Zucker added.

Says who?

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SFLTV Feedback: Has NBCUni reached rock bottom? Your thoughts below.

Thanks to our reader Graham for linking us to this story.

5 COMMENTS

  1. Interesting… I think he is right when we are thinking in terms of the economy, but not necessarily NBC Uni.

    And yeah, like I have mentioned before, none of NBCs O&Os are #1. Many are actually #3 or more in their respective markets. I actually believe that their highest rated affiliate in its market is WVIT in Connecticut, and WVIT is #2 behind WFSB. None of the TV stations for CT are even in HD, and WVIT is the only NBC O&O not in HD, though I believe they are going HD Wednesday when they move into their new facility. If NBC should sell any station, that would be the one, it is their smallest, and would look very attractive now in a state of the art studio. WVIT was also only purchased by NBC as part of a UHF experiment.

    Also, if NBC wants to save money they should sell their 76% stake in Stations venture operations. That is a waste of money, and both KNSD and KXAS, which are apart of that agreement, are ratings disaster areas.

    Upon doing this they could then take a closer look at their other stations and figure out what they could do to fix this problem.

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