BigBrainBoy

NBC’s Zucker Speaks on the Future of Network Television

The television chief focused his lecture on new methods of distributing programming, such as downloading shows onto an iPod or buying individual episodes through DIRECTV.

Technological advances are already paying off for NBC, Zucker said.

Ratings for “NBC Nightly News” improved over the last two weeks after the television company started offering daily newscasts on its Web site.

But Zucker said he is wary of some of these advances, especially the blog craze and its effect on TV.

“We pay too much attention to blogs,” he said. “It is absurd how much attention they receive.”

Zucker said NBC’s primetime lineup is spiralling down, and it will take two to three years to rebound from the current slump.

Zucker is in for a rude awakening when this “three year slump” turns into a permanent downward spiral. This must be how he has managed to keep his job: by convincing others that this is just a temporary blip. Of course, the timing is perfect because when these three years are over, it will be time for the massive overhaul that is the transition to digital broadcasting. Then he can buy himself another 3-5 years simply by blaming everything on the digital transition. Frankly, if we were investors we’d be telling Jeff that there is no time like the present to put down the crack pipe. Why wait three years?

Zucker misunderstands why blogs get so much attention: it’s not the content. The revolution that it provides is that anyone, anywhere can instantly publish. It may not be nice and shiny like TV yet, but it can get there. TV on the other hand is still out of everyone’s reach.

Although the online version of nightline is cute, we wonder just how many people are actually watching it. Perhaps the day that more people watch nightline on the net that tune in via broadcast TV will send Jeff the memo he needs to read.

Posted by Ori on 11/22 at 05:48 AM