Colossus: The Comcast/NBC Universal Project - Simon Applebaum - MediaBizBloggers

On January 28, the biggest union of television powerhouses in recent memory will be operational or close. NBC Universal, one of the nation's largest content suppliers, connects with Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator and a fair channel maker on its own. Expect a lot of prognostication over what the priorities of this combo must be over the coming months. See that for yourself elsewhere and make a judgment call from what you see. From here, the priorities of this new media colossus are clear--and just two.

First, transform, not just fix, transform NBC's primetime schedule. As this colossus hits the ground, NBC's primetime is on life support. Take away National Football League games on Sunday nights this past fall, and this lineup would be flat-lining. Night after night, NBC is either third or fourth in broadcast network ratings, and on some recent nights, Univision, the leading Spanish-language network, closes in, meets or beats NBC in household viewing. Also on some recent nights, Univision meets or beats NBC in demographic categories. This is the end result of a half-decade of NBC bringing on poorly-developed series, not dropping low-rated programs fast enough (or refusing to do so in Chuck's case), moving hit programs in hopscotch fashion, overexposing them and tampering with the format (Deal Or No Deal a classic example of all three). All that and The Jay Leno Show debacle.

Primetime at NBC can make a comeback, and Robert Greenblatt, the former Showtime programming chief now aboard, has the wits to pull it off with a good team alongside him. The road back must start this coming season with innovative, family-worthwhile series that provoke watercooler conversations instead of yawns. And NBC must be willing to uproot and throw out its past practices to make this work.

This is not going to be a one-year wonder, especially not in an era where on any given night, original cable programs can be a broadcast network program. All the more incentive for this transformation to start this fall.

Second priority: diversity, diversity, diversity without delay. En route to closing this merger and getting it through the regulatory agencies, Comcast made a set of agreements with advocacy groups representing people of color. Under those agreements, Comcast's cable systems nationwide would launch at least 10 independently-owned networks. Four of those channels would be owned/managed by, or target, African-Americans. Four channels would be owned/managed by or target Latinos. One or two would be owned/managed by or target Asian-Americans, an audience Comcast disappointed several years ago when management first overhauled, then cancelled, AZN, a channel targeting young Asian-Americans that appeared well on the way to success with its crowd, and capable of drawing a solid crossover audience pre-overhaul. Cinema Asian America on Demand, the first video-on-demand service showcasing recent films by AA directors and writers, which Comcast launched a few months ago, is a good first step to rebuilding its appeal with that constituency.

Off the bat, this union can make a bold declaration of leadership by moving these initiatives forward--and going beyond them--this year. Not next year or the year after--this year. Put two or three new African-American indie nets on this year. Put two or three new Latino-owned indie nets on this year. Put one or two Asian-American channels on this year. Declare you'll get a Native American channel--the one in development at a California-based PBS station or from another source--available to your customers this year. Extend this approach to networks owned or targeting the gay and lesbian community. At the same time, go whole-hog with that deal with the Independent Film & TV Alliance to develop new shows on a mass scale from independent producers for your array of networks--NBC included.

Imagine the positive accolades and positive public outcry Comcast/NBC Universal would receive for these actions. Imagine also the number of jobs and innovation opportunities these new networks would create. Imagine the precedent it would set for other multichannel distributors, from Time Warner Cable to U-verse, to match and exceed. Who benefits? All of us. All the more incentive why this new media colossus should bring this possibility to life, much sooner than later.

Until the next time, stay well and stay tuned!

Simon Applebaum is host/producer of Tomorrow Will Be Televised, the Internet radio/podcast-distributed program about the TV scene. The program runs live Mondays/Fridays at 3 p.m. Eastern time, noon Pacific time, on BlogTalk Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com), with replays 24/7 via www.blogtalkradio.com/simonapple04. Podcasts are available at ITunes.com and 17 other Web download sites (details from www.sonibyte.com). Have a question or reaction? Get it to simonapple04@yahoo.com, or the Tomorrow Will Be Televised group page on Facebook.

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