video 30 Rock is well known for using both real-life news events and personalities to drive their plot: Alec Baldwin's character "Jack Donaghy" is said to be based on management style of Lorne Michaels, many believe that Will Arnett's turn as up-and-comer "Devin Banks" is inspired by former NBC programmer Ben Silverman, and of course Liz Lemon is, well, Tina Fey. But last night's episode featured a storyline ripped from the Mediaite headlines: NBC's takeover by a Philadelphia cable provider, affectionately referred to as "Kabletown." (more...)

Yesterday, the news that former News Corp. heavyweight Peter Chernin had been advising Comcast in its bid for NBC Universal sent shockwaves throughout the media world. Before the speculation as to what this means gets out of hand, it's worth bringing up one key data point: both of Chernin's top deputies, Katherine Pope and Dylan Clark, are former NBC/Uni execs. (more...)

Media Decoder reports that last week, ABC averaged an abysmal 1.1 rating among 18- to 49-year-old viewers for the third time this summer, putting it behind CBS, NBC, Fox, and even Univision. There's no doubt that a lot of ABC execs have been getting stern talkings-to from their superiors lately, but Steve McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment Group, has to be sweating harder than most. Last month, his counterpart at NBC Entertainment, Ben Silverman, stepped down after a difficult tenure. NBC's entertainment ratings have hovered around dead last, and ABC's just ahead of them, and since Silverman's departure there have been murmurs that McPherson might be next to the chopping block. (more...)

Barry Diller appears to be making a habit of taking well-known media types and giving them a lot of money to reinvent themselves on the web. A LOT. (more...)

So after news broke this morning that Ben Silverman was leaving NBCU, more than one person in the office wondered a) how come Nikki Finke hadn't been the one to break it, and b) what would Nikke Finke blog about from now on. Nikke Finke has subsequently solved both mysteries for us in what could be referred to as The Finke-Silverman Experiment Ends, A Play in 5 Acts. (more...)