Karger, you’ll recall, filed a complaint against Fox News earlier this month after he says the network altered its eligibility requirements in order to keep him out of the debate, adding that this “blatant affront by Fox News executives smacks of discrimination.” Karger is an openly gay Republican who has long been a very vocal advocate of gay rights.

This time around, Karger is taking precautions, Tweeting that he has sent a letter to Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts, urging him to “Let Fred In” as a participant in next week’s Reagan Library Debate on NBC.

So far, eight qualifying Republican candidates are slated to participate in the debate, which will take place on September 7th: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

The participants, according to Politico, which is helping organize/report on the event in conjunction with NBC and The Reagan Foundation, were informed of their eligibility standing via invitation by none other than former first lady Nancy Reagan:

Former first lady Nancy Reagan sent an invitation to the presidential hopefuls who meet the eligibility standards, which require that a candidacy be formally announced and that a candidate captures at least 4 percent in one of eight national polls.

We’ll let you know whether Karger is able to prove he met those requirements to The Powers That Be at NBC’s parent company.

Along with the doldrums of summer come the fill-in hosts, for cable and network shows alike. Who fills those chairs when the lead anchors take vacation is probably more significant, and well thought-out, at the morning shows than any other programs on television. Over at ABC, up-and-coming star Josh Elliott filled in hosting GMA this weekend (as he had during the week before), while Elizabeth Vargas substituted for Robin Roberts last week. But with rumors that Matt Lauer could leave The Today Show in the near future, the real action is over at NBC, where Meet The Press host David Gregory and new NBC darling Savannah Guthrie are co-hosting today, and where Morning Joe‘s Willie Geist has seen significant time in the “male” chair.

Ryan Seacrest has become a household name hosting American Idol, his radio show and co-hosting E! News on the E! network, which is owned by Comcast. With GMA shrinking The Today Show‘s lead in the past few months, the internal discussions have been intensifying, Mediaite has learned. Key NBC insiders now believe that only someone with Seacrest’s name recognition and appeal to women could allow for a smooth transition, and ensure that the incredibly profitable Today Show remains on top in the morning.

When reached, an NBC spokesperson had no comment.

The issue with Seacrest, according to insiders, is not whether he could get the gig, but whether he would take it. The full time hosting job would mean that Seacrest would have to leave his beloved Los Angeles and move to New York, which he is apparently loathe to do. Furthermore, hosting a morning show is a grueling job, and with his production company and various hosting jobs, something would have to give. If Seacrest were to take the job, there would also likely be internal dissension amongst the NBC News folks, for picking someone with no news experience. But these days, one has to imagine that simply wouldn’t matter much to a company seeking to protect one of its most important and profitable brands.

The way to avoid all of that, of course, would be to figure out how to keep Lauer.

Host Jon Scott put the topic on the table, suggesting that the relationship between Sharpton and the White House could have something to do with the deal. Panelist Monica Crowley noted that she was “not at all surprised,” as “his ideology fits in perfectly with MSNBC” and he could be trusted not to attack President Obama. The other main potential reason the panel discussed was the involvement of Sharpton in the Comcast-NBC deal. Panelist Jim Pinkerton suggested that the “skepticism that there is some kind of quid pro quo is worth following up on,” though that discussion was cut short by Scott asking why anyone listened to Sharpton at all. “I don’t think anyone does,” chimed in Kirsten Powers, adding her skepticism that quid pro quo was involved to the pot.

The segment via Fox News below:

Headlining a piece about someone who is soon to be one of the very few voices of color in cable news with the phrase “affirmative action” poses enough of a problem; that as the article proceeds, it becomes apparent that Sharpton’s questionable ethics to acquire the position have far more to do with lobbying and money than race is another complication entirely. Add to that the fact that his predecessor, Cenk Uygur, was already an ethnic minority on the network, and the links between Sharpton, his racial activism, and his relationship with his new bosses feels like something of an impenetrable web of intrigue made even more inscrutable by the eye-catching headline.

But don’t let the shiny words fool you– the crux of Barrett’s thesis is that Sharpton is being rewarded for being one of the few minority voices in favor of the NBC-Comcast merger, not simply for being a minority voice. Noting that “his three prior attempts at hosting a show have flopped badly,” Barrett posits that there is no particular commercial attractiveness to adding a host like Sharpton to a cable news lineup, snidely concluding that his profile isn’t helped much by a a 2004 presidential bid “so widely seen as vacuous and uninformed that it earned him remarkably puny support, even among black voters.” So why, then, would MSNBC even have him in the running?:

Sharpton has a long and well-documented history of leveraging his civil-rights profile for his own benefit. Grabbing a prime-time anchor spot in exchange for cheerleading for a controversial merger would be the capper on that career. It’s gone remarkably unnoticed that Sharpton was the first major black leader to endorse the Comcast merger, which met fierce resistance.

Barrett goes on to show that one hand washes the other– Comcast has also made some significant contributions to Sharpton’s National Action Network, as well– according to a spokesperson, $140,000 since 2009, when the merger was first proposed. The National Action Network, on their part, had honored MSNBC President Phil Griffin with an award this year, and, as mentioned before, Sharpton supported the Comcast-NBC merger staunchly when it was being attacked for potentially fostering less diversity in the media through a memorandum of agreement (MOU) also signed by the NAACP and the Urban League. As Barrett explains, “the MOU was significant because it countered opposition from Jesse Jackson, a variety of black organizations, and some black House Democrats.” And here is where race finally comes into play in a concrete way: that MOU required the establishment of minority advisory councils, which Barrett finds strange that Sharpton declined to participate in:

The MOU required Comcast/NBC to establish minority advisory councils, and the Urban League’s [Marc] Morial was named to chair the African-American panel. Sharpton’s organization designated the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, who has chaired NAN’s board for years, to sit on the council. Since Sharpton has frequently put himself on corporate councils, including even Walmart’s, his decision to appoint Richardson suggests that, as far back as May, he was already angling for an MSNBC job, and knew he couldn’t be both a council member and an employee.

Barrett pieces together enough of the puzzle to make a viable argument: Sharpton couldn’t market himself as a successful host on his own, he must have brought something new to the table, and money and perks were being exchanged between the two entities fast and loose. What this has to do with affirmative action– the policy of actively pursuing minority hires to balance out past racial discrimination– is a question left unanswered, particularly when replacing a minority host with a minority host would do little to advance any such goal.

The abrupt end of Dick Ebersol‘s decades-long career at NBC may have been a signal to NBCUniversal executives, suggests Joe Flint in the Los Angeles Times‘ Company Town blog: “get with the program, or hit the road.”

Flint says Ebersol, whose long career as head of NBC Sports made him a giant, also put him in conflict with Comcast’s culture:

Although Comcast is no stranger to entertainment — it owns the cable network E!, which means it’s in business with the Kardashians — it prefers that the executives who run the company keep low profiles and let the work speak for itself.

Ebersol, who has been associated with NBC for almost 40 years and whose influence extended far beyond the world of sports, is anything but low profile. He was not shy about voicing his opinions on topics other than sports rights fees and Olympic ratings. He played a key role in persuading NBC brass that Conan O’Brien wasn’t going to work out as Jay Leno’s successor, and he enjoyed very friendly relationships with much of the media.

Few people in television today have the stature and living-legend-ness of Dick Ebersol, who’s run NBC Sports since 1989 and who has reportedly resigned today after failing to reach agreement on a new contract. The New York Times cites sources close to the negotiations who say Ebersol pushed hard for certain parts of a new contract, including salary requirements, but new majority owners Comcast resisted. The Times reports Ebersol’s decision came after a morning meeting with Comcast executives that led to a 10 a.m. meeting where the longtime NBC executive announced to staff he was leaving:

Ebersol’s departure raises immediate questions about whether Comcast will be less aggressive about acquiring the rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, which will be negotiated in Lausanne, Switzerland, in June. He said that he would not attend the auction, at which ESPN and Fox are expected to be bidders, and that he intended to stay at NBC until the end of June.

Eight years ago he made the winning bid of $2.2 billion for the 2010 Vancouver Games and the 2012 London Games. But NBC’s $223 million loss on the 2010 Olympics came at a notably bad time: less than three months after Comcast announced its deal to buy control of NBC Universal from General Electric. The Vancouver loss was by far the most for the eight Olympics on NBC in Ebersol’s tenure.

Behar had a bit of fun at Current TV’s expense, joking about not being able to even find it. Sklar had a more diplomatic take on what Olbermann could do for Al Gore‘s less-than-flourishing (and, apparently, hard to find) network:

They need something. I mean, this is a great move for Olbermann, too. He gets to say that… You know, Current is starting from, you know, not the position of being the highest-rated network on cable… so he’s going to be able to say he was able to say “I build up a network, again.” ‘Cause he’s going to bring people in. And Olbermann is most comfortable as an underdog; he really is.

Behar then discussed whether the new Powers That Be at Comcast let Olbermann go because they had taken issue with him, personally, but Sklar quite accurately pointed out that Olbermann has been “brewing discontent there (at MSNBC) for some time now,” long before Comcast stepped into the picture.

Watch the segment for yourselves, via HLN:

Comcast’s rise to power has caused concern among some die-hard MSNBC fans, who fear the new management may order a retreat from the network’s progressive political coverage. Susan Crawford, a professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo Law School is writing a book about Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal, and she tells USA Today folks on the left will be watching Burke’s moves closely. ”

People close to Comcast and Burke say the only politics likely to change at NBC–and all of the NBC Universal properties–is office politics. Comcast’s known as an operation that neither encourages nor tolerates employees who clash with bosses, as Olbermann was long described as doing. Meg James in the Los Angeles Times reports, “infusing Comcast’s and Burke’s management approach, one that encourages teamwork and takes a dim view of office politics, into the sprawling NBC Universal could take years.”

Beyond the culture shift, Comcast will now control some solid performers, like NBC’s TODAY and Nightly News–both top rated–and some struggling properties, like NBC’s primetime and many of the network’s owned-and-operated local television stations. In USA Today, David Lieberman suggests an investment in hyperlocal news–especially in cities where Comcast has cable and NBC owns a television station–may be part of the plan to boost profits and heighten competitive advantage:

A big question, though, is whether Comcast will expand the news operation. The most promising opportunity seems to be hyperlocal news: Comcast could feed stories produced by its local stations to channels or websites that would be distributed through Comcast’s cable and broadband services.

While none of Comcast’s specific plans have been made public, the overall objective has, as Burke told the Hollywood Reporter:

“With this set of assets,” said Burke, “there’s no reason why we can’t set the bar very high. Whatever we do, we should be in it to win it.”

From the LA Times:

“Since 2004, when NBC acquired the Universal assets, the NBC Universal logo has been a peacock within a circle to signify the merged companies: NBC (the peacock), and the spinning planet that has long been Universal’s logo.

‘It seemed kind of busy,’ NBC Universal Chief Executive Steve Burke told employees during a town-hall meeting Thursday afternoon in New York, which was moderated by NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.”

Below you can see a comparison of the old and new logos. The real question now is why isn’t anyone writing hyperbolic headlines about the poor Universal globe? That guy must be really bummed.

Although Beck didn’t want Olbermann fired, since he believes in “more speech, not less,” he couldn’t resist pointing out that a company might “handle mediocre ratings, [but only] if the guy’s not a total pain in the ass.” However, as Beck explicitly stated, all reports he’s seen suggested “Keith Olbermann is the biggest pain in the ass in the world.”

Also on the receiving end of some ridicule was Olbermann’s replacement Lawrence O’Donnell who Beck predicted “nobody is going to watch because he’s just boring – and I can get that from CNN.” Will Beck’s television forecast be right again, or might O’Donnell actually be a more formidable ratings force in the future?

Listen to the clip below from The Glenn Beck Program:

(h/t The Right Scoop)

The FCC determined that the joint venture would be “in the nation’s public interest.” The U.S. Justice Department also singed off on the acquisition, and will announce measures to ensure that Comcast share its content and audience with its competitors.

Comcast has said it would add 1,000 hours of informational programming to some channels, as well as contribute $20 million to minority programs. The company has also promised to make a $9.95 broadband option available for low-income households. Together, the companies now boast about 16.7 million broadband subscribers.

However, as The Washington Post points out, the venture isn’t sitting well with everyone. Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps, who was the only member of the Commission to dissent in the 4-to-1 vote, believes the move gives Comcast much too much power – to the ultimate detriment of its customers and the public at large.

All the majority’s efforts—diligent though they were—to ameliorate these harms cannot mask the truth that this Comcast-NBCU joint venture grievously fails the public interest.

While many of the new conditions potentially proposed by the FCC have yet to be made public, sources told the AP that paramount among the concerns the regulatory commission is expressing is the fear that companies such as Netflix, Amazon, or Apple will be placed under a chokehold by the mammoth company in attempts to aggregate NBC content, “locking consumers into costly monthly cable bills to get access to a wide range of popular programming.” “Genachowski appears most significantly concerned about the opportunity that the corporation could find to corner the market on online content,” the report continues, outlining via sources the two most significant potential conditions: mandatory arbitration and obligatory access to much of NBC Universal’s online video:

That condition would mandate arbitration to settle any disputes and would potentially prohibit Comcast from withholding NBC Universal content during negotiations — a practice that broadcasters have been increasingly turning to in the push for higher fees.

Another condition would require Comcast to make NBC Universal programming available to Internet video distributors under certain circumstances. Existing FCC rules require cable companies to provide channels they own to rivals such as satellite companies, but right now those rules do not apply to Internet distributors. Imposing similar obligations on Comcast in dealing with Web distributors would help prevent Comcast from stunting the growth of Internet video.

The first condition seems to be a case of “lesson learned” after last season’s war between Cablevision and News Corp., for which many offered binding arbitration as a solution. The latter condition is a bit more of an obvious threat, given that, should the FCC (as expected) approve the merger, the NBC/Universal media world would now include– in addition to stalwarts like Telemundo, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, and Oxygen– channels like E! and the Golf Channel and myriad television and internet distribution programs.

The report concludes that the FCC is expected to approve the merger next year, should the conditions be accepted, another provision that seems well on its way to completion: “In a statement, the company said the proposal would ensure that the deal delivers ‘real public interest benefits’ and ‘enable us to operate the NBC Universal and legacy Comcast businesses in an appropriate way.’”

Workaround fix at the bottom of the post.

From WGN – Chicago:

Comcast Internet outage affecting Chicago area
December 5, 2010 10:11 PM

Comcast officials said a widespread Internet service outage was affecting the Chicago area, Northwest Indiana, Southwest Michigan and Minnesota tonight.

The outage of high-speed Internet started at 7:30 p.m., said Angie Amores, a Comcast spokeswoman. The cause was being investigated, she said.

Officials did not have an estimated time of when the service will be restored, Amores said.

Amores said that cable and phone service were not been affected. Corporate officials were using Twitter to update customers on developments on the outage, she said.

William Gerth, an official from the Comcast corporate office in Philadelphia, said he was alerting customers via Twitter account @comcastcares with details about the outage. He said that engineers were working on a domain name system issue and suggested following the temporary solutions on the Twitter page.

As of 9:40 p.m., customers calling 1-800-Comcast were greeted by a recorded message saying that the company was experiencing technical difficulties and call later.

– Serena Maria Daniels

1:00AM EST Update:

From The Chicago Sun-Times – 12/06/10:

Comcast Internet outage hits Midwest
Chicago, Northwest Indiana, parts of Michigan and Minnesota were affected by a Comcast Internet outage late Sunday night according to a rash of complaints on Twitter and confirmation from Comcast officials.

The outage of high-speed Internet service started at 7:30 p.m. and was fixed about midnight Monday morning.

The ComcastCares Twitter account stated that there was a problem with Comcast DNS servers, similar to an outage affecting the Northeast on November 29. A temporary workaround recommended users change their DNS servers to the Google 8.8.8.8 setting, explained further here, or other public DNS servers if the user is familiar with manual manipulation of these settings.

Cable and phone service were not affected.

If you are a Comcast user having problems, try the following change in your Internet DNS settings:

Change your DNS servers to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS.) This might solve your problem until Comcast DNS Service is restored, Good luck!

Click on the service for instructions on how to change: Google Public DNS or OpenDNS

10:20 PM (EST) – 11/28/10 Update:

From The Baltimore Sun:

Officials at Comcast Sunday night said they did not know what caused disruptions in its Internet service to homes and businesses across the region but that they were working to restore service.

“We’ve identified the server issue and our engineers are working aggressively to resolve the matter,” said Comcast spokesman Bob Grove, who apologized to those affected by the outage. “Additional staff have been brought in to resolve the interruption. Only Internet service has been affected, there are no video or phone issues. Everything is being done to restore service as quickly as possible.”

Grove said that as far as he knew, the disruptions were regional and affecting users only in the Baltimore- Washington area; however, users of the micro-blogging site Twitter from as far away as Boston, told The Sun that their service was out. A different spokesman told The Sun’s media partner WJZ-TV that there was also an outage in the Boston region.

From The Boston Globe:

By L. Finch, Globe Correspondent

Internet service is down for an unknown number of Comcast customers in Massachusetts tonight, according to the company.

The scope of the outage was not immediately available, but anecdotal reports suggested the interruption spanned from New England down to Washington D.C.

Telephone and cable service has not been affected by the problem, said Doreen Vigue, a Comcast spokeswoman. She said she could not provide any more details on the outage, but apologized on behalf of the company to affected customers.

“We’re aware of the problem, and we’re working aggressively to solve it,” Vigue said. “We’re bringing in as many extra people as possible to work on this.”

From WMUR Channel 9, New Hampshire:

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Comcast subscribers across New Hampshire are dealing with a widespread Internet outage.

WMUR received several phone calls from customers and our sister stations in Massachusetts and Vermont have been flooded with calls as well.

Comcast only gave a brief statement Sunday night. “We’re aware of the problem affecting some Internet customers. Our engineers are working aggressively to resolve it as soon as possible,” Comcast said.

Comcast said it’s aware customers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts are affected, however we’ve seen online Twitter reports indicating this internet outage is affecting a large part of New England and possibly the entire northeast.

If you are a Comcast user having problems, try the following change in your Internet DNS settings:

Change your DNS servers to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 (OpenDNS.) This might solve your problem until Comcast DNS Service is restored, Good luck!

Click on the service for instructions on how to change: Google Public DNS or OpenDNS

Keith Olbermann replayed a clip from Beck’s program describing the end of MSNBC, complete with firing squad metaphors (“they’ll shoot them in the head”) and repeated references to the network’s “death.” The deal, as Beck also argued on The O’Reilly Factor tonight, is for those on the left to say “we’re willing to get rid of MSNBC if you get rid of Fox.”

For such harsh language, Olbermann had a rather tame critique: a simple look at the numbers that show MSNBC and CNBC are worth more than third party ABC News. “The only conspiracy here,” he concludes, “is a conspiracy to make money.”

Tonight’s Worst’s via MSNBC below:

The conversation sprung from comments made by former president Jimmy Carter, who once again recently denounced Beck by name as an example of how the media can be counterproductive. Beck didn’t really seem to mind Carter’s comments, though he did take the time to note that “no one listens to Jimmy Carter” and no one ever did, “not even when he was President.” After laughing a bit at the former president’s expense (O’Reilly also mocked him for having “a book out every three weeks… more than [Beck], which I didn’t think was possible), the duo discussed several on-air errors they made and corrected them once again, in the interest of fairness. These included O’Reilly’s premature condemnation of Shirley Sherrod and Beck erroneously labeling former White House Green Jobs Czar Van Jones a “convicted felon.”

The the conversation veered toward Sen. Rockefeller and the impending Comcast/GE deal. Beck perceived the attacks on MSNBC from liberals as a sign of doom for the network given the new corporate proceedings, and suggested that the intent on the left was to make MSNBC a “sacrificial lamb” and hope that the right follows suit with Fox News. O’Reilly found the theory innovative and lended his support: “You’re very perceptive!” he cheered.

The dialogue on spelling doom for MSNBC as a corporation seems hyperbolic and immature at this point in the Comcast proceedings, though perfect bait for the anchors on the other side to bite.

The segment from this evening’s O’Reilly Factor via Fox News below:

Sources close to the situation said that the oversight of Mr. Griffin from the memo raised questions with many at MSNBC about what his role would be within the new company, but a high-level MSNBC assures us that there is no change planned, and that Griffin will continue in his role of president.

Which I guess, as a practical matter would mean that Capus and Griffin will greet each other in the hall with the same salutation of “Hello Mr. President!” The full memo can be read below (via TV Newser)

Update: A spokesman for Comcast tells Mediaite “Phil’s done a great job at MSNBC and he’ll continue to be President after the close. ”

For nearly a year, we have worked hard to identify people from NBC Universal, Comcast and outside the two companies to form our new leadership team when the deal closes. Our goal has been to find people who have the skill sets we need to succeed and who reflect the values that will be the hallmark of NBC Universal, including teamwork, integrity, creativity and a commitment to treating people the right way.

We have also been very focused on putting in place the best possible organizational structure. To that end, we have created some new positions, changed the scope of others, and shifted some reporting assignments. We think we’ve developed a structure that organizes the company in the smartest way possible.

We are beginning our leadership announcements now because with the anticipated close of the deal nearing, we want to give everyone enough time to begin to think about the specific opportunities and challenges they will face beginning the day of the close. This is particularly true for areas that have transition work to complete before we close. While new roles won’t be effective until the deal closes, and while there will be more announcements to come, it is important that we are prepared to hit the ground running.

To that end, I am pleased to make the following initial announcements of members of the new NBC Universal senior management team:

Bonnie Hammer will become Chairman, NBC Universal Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios. USA, SyFy, E! Entertainment, G4, Chiller, Sleuth, Universal HD and UCP (Universal Cable Productions) will report to Bonnie. Neil Tiles will remain President of G4 and report to Bonnie as will a newly appointed president of E! Entertainment.

Lauren Zalaznick will become Chairman, NBC Universal Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integrated Media. Bravo, Oxygen, and iVillage will continue to report to Lauren, as will the Integrated Strategic Marketing Group, which oversees initiatives including Green Is Universal, Healthy at NBC Universal and Women at NBC Universal. Digital properties Daily Candy and Fandango, Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo, and cable networks mun2, Style, and PBS Sprout will also report to Lauren. Telemundo will continue to be led by Don Browne (President) and Jackie Hernandez (Chief Operating Officer); Salaam Coleman Smith will continue to lead Style; and Chuck Davis will continue to lead Fandango and Daily Candy, each reporting to Lauren.

Dave Cassaro will become President, Cable Advertising Sales, reporting to both Bonnie and Lauren. Dave will be responsible for cable and digital sales. Steve Mandala, Peter Naylor and Mike Rodriguez will report to Dave.

Ted Harbert will join NBC Universal from Comcast as Chairman, NBC Broadcasting. Ted will be responsible for broadcast advertising sales, NBC affiliate relations, companywide research, domestic TV syndication and the NBC station group. Alan Wurtzel, Barry Wallach, Vivi Zigler and John Wallace will report to Ted.

Marianne Gambelli will become President, NBC Network Advertising Sales. She will be responsible for network primetime, news and sports advertising sales and she will report to Ted.

Bob Greenblatt will become Chairman, NBC Entertainment, responsible for all aspects of prime time and late night programming, business affairs, West Coast research, marketing, public relations, scheduling and NBC Universal Media Studios. Most recently, Bob was President, Entertainment for Showtime Networks, Inc. Marc Graboff and Angela Bromstad will report to Bob.

Steve Capus will continue to serve as President of NBC News/MSNBC.

Mark Hoffman will continue in his position as President of CNBC.

Dick Ebersol will become Chairman of the NBC Sports Group. He will be responsible for NBC Sports, The Golf Channel, Versus and the Comcast Regional Sports Networks. Jon Litner (RSNs), Jamie Davis (Versus) and Earl Marshall (Golf) will report to Dick.

Ron Meyer will continue to be President and COO, Universal Studios. Adam Fogelson will continue as Chairman, Universal Pictures and Tom Williams will be in charge of Universal Parks and Resorts.

Jeff Shell will join NBC Universal from Comcast and move to London to become Chairman of NBC Universal International. Peter Smith will report to Jeff.

Lynn Calpeter will continue to be Executive Vice President and CFO of NBC Universal. In addition to the financial team, Ed Swindler, COO of Ad Sales, will report to Lynn and he will be heavily involved in companywide sales efforts.

Pat Fili-Krushel will join NBC Universal as Executive Vice President with a broad portfolio of functions reporting to her, including Media Works, Business Strategy, Human Resources and Legal. Pat joins us from Time Warner, where she served as Executive Vice President, Administration.

Rick Cotton will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of NBC Universal and will report to Pat and me.

Salil Mehta will continue to serve as President, Business Operations, Strategy and Development for NBC Universal and will also report to Pat.

John Eck will continue his role as President of Media Works, reporting to Pat as well.

Adam Miller will join NBC Universal as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs. Communications will report to Adam and he will also work on special projects. Adam joins us from the Abernathy MacGregor Group, where he was President and served as a longstanding adviser to Comcast.

Matt Bond will join NBC Universal from Comcast as Executive Vice President, Content Distribution, responsible for domestic television content and digital distribution. Bridget Baker and JB Perrette will report to Matt.

Paula Madison will continue to serve as Executive Vice President, Diversity.

Page Thompson will join NBC Universal from Comcast as Executive Vice President, Strategic Integration, responsible for identifying synergy opportunities between Comcast, NBC, Universal Studios and Parks and the cable channels.

Jeff Gaspin, Mike Pilot and Allison Gollust will be leaving NBC Universal at the close of the transaction. These transitions are often difficult and at times people who have made great contributions end up leaving. I want to thank them for their hard work and professionalism throughout the transition planning process.

The team described above will not begin to operate the company until after the transaction closes, which will occur following regulatory approval. Between now and then, each business will continue to be managed by its respective leadership team, and NBC Universal will continue to be led by Jeff Zucker, whose talent, hard work and commitment have been instrumental in building NBC Universal into the company it is today.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone at NBC Universal and the Comcast Programming Group for your continued patience, hard work and focus. While this announcement provides some clarity to some roles and responsibilities, it is only the first in what will be a series of milestones as we move into 2011.

I hope you are as excited as I am by the prospect of what we can accomplish together in the future.
Steve

MarketWatch commentator Jon Friedman wonders whether the cable honchos at Comcast will try to “rein in” MSNBC’s “brazen” star:

Olbermann reacted to his brief suspension by blasting his employer’s policies. He may well have had a point — but, perhaps he shouldn’t have been so brazen, anyway. With a new owner coming on the scene he might be better off by trying to repair his image, not fan the flames.

Friedman points out that while MSNBC’s image tends toward “rollicking,” Philadelphia-based Comcast, well, doesn’t:

Comcast is a highly successful, rather conservatively run organization. It particularly stands out in the clamorous New York-centric media universe, where controversies and scandals sometimes seem to be a way of life.

If I were a betting man, I’d suspect that Comcast would want to rein in MSNBC — and avoid any future controversies. MSNBC is locked into supporting a left-leaning point of view — just as Fox reflects its right-tilting viewers. Will that change under Comcast? I’d doubt it, but you may well see more flexibility after Comcast takes over.

Friedman, who calls MSNBC the “loose shirttail” among NBC properties, wonders how much pressure Olbermann may come under–especially in light of the recent dispatch of NBC chief Jeff Zucker. Poorly rated programs on MSNBC may not be tolerated under the new regime, especially with big brother NBC News continuing to dominate ABC and CBS.

Olbermann, though not necessarily bulletproof after his headline-grabbing long weekend, may yet be protected by his status atop the MSNBC ratings pile alongside primetime hosts Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell…at least for now.

Here are some more donations that tangentially relate to Olbermann – like GE overlap.

The folks at Martin Eisenstadt’s blog have a satirical post with some real information about donations. For example, Olbermann’s current and future parent company has donated to two of the three candidates the Countdown host did two weeks ago:

According to FEC filings, General Electric Company Political Action Committee (GEPAC) has given $7,750 to Gabrielle Giffords‘ campaigns over the years (including $4,500 for this campaign cycle). GEPAC has also contributed $5,000 to Raul Grijalva over the years, though those contributions ended in 2007. GEPAC did not contribute to either Giffords’ or Grijalva’s opponents this year. Nor did it contribute to either Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway (whom Olbermann did) or his opponent, Rand Paul.

NBC/Universal’s soon-to-be new owner is Comcast, which also has an active PAC. Comcast’s PAC has given $8,000 to Giffords’ campaigns (including $2,000 for her 2010 reelection effort), and it’s donated $5,000 to Grijalva’s campaigns (including $2,500 for this campaign).

Meanwhile soon-to-be NBCU CEO Steve Burke has made several donations to Republicans (while his wife donated to Democrats). Of course, all this ignores the fact that the issue with Olbermann’s donation appears to be that it wasn’t reported to his bosses, not that it happened in the first place.

Check out all the info, and “Marty”‘s take, here.

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

Speaking with an unnamed executive while researching the motivations behind News Corps’ donation, The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg mined a gemstone of a quote that expresses something quite far from the fear or concern a news organization in any other country would feel when the current White House administration is so preoccupied with what’s going in within:

An executive at Fox News who agreed to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity expressed “astonishment” over Mr. Obama’s focus on the network. “We are so in his head,” he said. “Can you believe with all the other things going on in this world he’s preoccupied with Fox News?”

This in light of a recent lawsuit entertained in court nearly two years after being dropped on the part of a Fox News employee citing discriminatory employment practices, and further reports that it’s not just News Corp that functions as a major political donor. It appears not only that Fox News is not worried that their business will be hindered by their political activism, but that their political activism as noticed by the White House is at the very least shocking and, at most, a bit of a badge of honor.

NBC owner General Electric, for example, has donated to the Democratic Governors Association, while Comcast, which is currently in the process of buying NBC, has given to both. This is all legal on both sides, despite the White House’s interest in News Corp’s activities in particular, as neither Governors Association has a right to channel funds into specific campaigns, but rather use them for general costs of functioning.

The whole thing is pretty funny and we have to join in Kimmel’s amusement that anyone would greenlight something called Baby Borrowers, a show that (like a few on the list) was a remake of a British series that failed on this side of the pond. Speaking of which, as entertaining as the spoof is, there’s a horrible error in it that completely pulled me out. The Kimmel used an image from the miniseries Merlin which earned NBC 15 Emmy nominations in 1998 when they probably meant the 2008 British series that bombed on NBC before being moved to Syfy where it is still airing. Isn’t that an awful mistake? Right? Right? What, I’m the only one who cares? Oh, okay then.

Writing for the wildly connected NY Times Media Decoder blog, Carter writes:

Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, told the company’s employees in an email Friday morning that he will step down from his position upon the completion of the takeover of NBC by Comcast.

The fate of Mr. Zucker, the longest-serving senior manager at NBC, has been the subject of widespread speculation since Comcast agreed last December to purchase 51 per cent of NBCU from its long-time corporate owner, General Electric. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year, following regulatory approval.

In an interview in NBC’s executive offices, Mr. Zucker, who is 45, said the decision to leave the only employer he has ever worked for — a decision he acknowledged he was not his own choice — became inevitable after a meeting two weeks ago with Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer.

Read the full report at the NY Times. You can also watch CNBC’s report on Zucker’s departure below.

The study found that one in eight Americans will be canceling their pay service in the next year. When asked why, most of them blamed the cost. That’s not hard to believe, what with times being tough and the average cable or satellite bills sitting at a steep $71 and rising on a consistent basis. But, even though the costs are exorbitant, Americans love television. Should we assume that this study is telling us that everyone is heading back outside to exercise? Or are we merely reverting to the golden days of radio and welcoming the likes of The Shadow or Little Orphan Annie into our homes? Of course not. The cable dissenters are just giving up one glowing screen and replacing it with another. Why pay to watch TV when you can watch it all for free on your computer completely legally (wink wink)?

“Jeremy Levinn, a 27-year-old personal trainer from Manhattan, jumped the ship last year. To feed his 30 Rock, Glee and The Office habit, he turns to network Web sites and Hulu.
He puts up with the usual day-after delay because ‘I’m not going to plan my schedule around watching TV, so it’s actually more convenient to be able to watch it [online] whenever I want.’”

As that quote makes clear, it’s not just the costs that are driving customers away from cable. The internet has shown us that we don’t need to be beholden to the schedules of the television networks. When Tivo and other DVR equipment first appeared, many in the industry worried that it would spell doom for advertising revenue as viewers gleefully fast forwarded through all the commercials during their favorite shows. Little did they know that giving viewers a taste of a television system that they control would drive them away from the boob tube entirely.

Americans now know that the technology exists for them to watch whatever they want whenever they want it, and that Pandora’s box isn’t going to get closed any time soon. Cable companies tried to react by adding On Demand services, but none of them compare to the relative ease that Hulu and other legal online options promise. And they certainly don’t provide the infinite choices that viewers who use illegal downloading sites get.

We all got a glimpse of the future a few months ago when HBO introduced HBO Go which was basically their version of Hulu. To maintain their status as a pay channel, the website is only viewable by those who are already HBO subscribers through cable or satellite. However, from the moment the site was announced, all everyone wanted to know was when we could drop the middle man and subscribe to HBO Go itself.

From Reuters:

“HBO co-president Eric Kessler knows what side of the bread is buttered, and gives no indications he has an eye on the next course. “We benefit tremendously from our partnership with television providers,” he said. “We’re not interested in disaggregating the content.”

And why should they be? The market for online video distribution is infinitesimal compared with the pay-TV universe — today. But a smart business like HBO thinks long term, and built into any strategy has to be a hedge that keeps a toe dangling in new pools of consumption, even if puddle deep. HBO should think of the Internet less as a VIP wing for its paying customers and more as a zone for expanding their ranks beyond its impressive though plateauing subscriber base of approximately 30 million.”

If Cable companies want to survive in the television game, they need to adapt. To do that, they need to take the phrase “On Demand” to its logical end point: giving viewers complete access to exactly what they want to watch. The first step would be to allow subscribers to create their own packages. Back when the choices were merely cable or no cable, the wealth of channels was a good thing. However, as time goes on, the fact that cable companies make viewers pay for hundreds of channels they don’t want to get the few they do has become increasingly annoying. That’s why the idea of subscribing straight to HBO was so enticing to so many with a limited income but a desire for quality entertainment.

Next, and more importantly, they need to work with all the different channels to increase their internet presence. Viewers want the entire library of their favorite shows to be online, and cable companies need to get involved with making that happen if they want to remain relevant. If they give the channels the bandwidth to put everything on their specific sites and then allow viewers to subscribe to the sites of their choosing, only then will they be able to defeat the threat of internet piracy that is hurting every medium of entertainment.

The Reuters HBO article mentions some early plans Comcast had for buying part of Hulu (which is potentially going to switch to a paid subscription based service) and that shows that the cable companies know that they need to change and, if they didn’t before, this new study should give them the final push. If these companies don’t adapt, paying a middleman for television will be a thing of the past.

So, next time you’re stuck waiting six hours for the cable guy (or if they do what they did to the Mediaite office yesterday and just never show up…), feel free to comfort yourself in knowing that that industry may very well be going the way of print media.

(h/t A.V. Club)

Host Neil Cavuto didn’t hold back in asking about the competing cable network.

Cavuto asked Roberts about the recent Donny Deutsch incident to start the interview. “I don’t know about any of that specifics at all,” said Roberts.

He also spoke more broadly about the TV company he’s looking to acquire. “NBC is running NBC, Comcast is running Comcast, we hope to put the two together this year. We think we have been able to make the case,” he said, also noting, “MSNBC and NBC cable and really all of the assets of NBC Universal have been underappreciated by a lot of investors.”

But in praising cable, he also praised Fox News:
“USA is still the number one rated cable channel, you guys [Fox News] have done a great job but they’ve done a lot of great jobs in cable programming as well as NBC and the Olympics. We’ll have a lot more to say when we finally get to closing.”

Cavuto also asked about RightNetwork: “Hopefully in a thoughtful way we can put all points of view and let the viewers pick and choose from the best content available.”

How much longer in the acquisition process can the CEO of Comcast appear on Fox News?

Here’s the interview:

—–
» Follow Steve Krakauer on Twitter

There is a bit more to the story here however. Yesterday Olbermann tweeted out a link to our initial story, calling it bad reporting (thanks for the traffic Keith!) But it wasn’t just Mediaite that reported the Comcast partnership, it was RightNetwork themselves who announced the partnership, which was later picked up by a myriad of sites. Brian Stelter for the NY Times reported that Comcast has nothing to do with the conservative network. However, Stelter also added:

The impression that Comcast is a partner in the venture was supported by the fact that Edward M. Snider, the chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, the company’s sports and venues division, was quoted in the document as saying that “we’re creating a welcome place for millions and millions of Americans who’ve been looking for an entertainment network and media channel that reflects their point-of-view.”

Mr. Snider is apparently a personal investor in RightNetwork, separate from Comcast.

A small, yet significant distinction. Did Mediaite report the story erroneously? In hindsight, yes we did not have all the facts. And the moment new information became available we updated the story accordingly. The website Crooks And Liars, who had initially reported the Comcast partnership, later came to our defense in a post ostensibly directed towards Mr. Olbermann:

Keith, Mediaite reported the same facts I did, based upon official literature published by RightNetwork, presumably after reading my post. It wasn’t bad reporting. It was factual, based upon published and easily-available materials.

I may have caught Comcast’s PR department sleeping on the job, but that doesn’t make my report inaccurate. It makes it necessary for Comcast to issue a blanket denial, and it makes the RightNetwork sales material presumptuous IF, in fact, it was false.

If RightNetwork’s pitch book is false with regard to Comcast, then a deal must be inked somewhere for someone’s pipes, or else the authors of the RightNetwork pitch material are simply lying about their triple play content service, which certainly doesn’t speak well for their plans to serve content to inspire truth and the American way.

Either way, I stand by my original report on this. I acknowledge Comcast’s denial for what it is and will be watching to see whose pipelines are used to serve television, internet and mobile content from RightNetwork.

And all this lead to Olbermann’s appropriate admonishment of RightNetwork (and nuanced personal jab at spokesman Kelsey Grammer), a video of which folllows:

Stelter writes:

Comcast denied reports Monday that it is a partner in the RightNetwork, a red state start-up that promises “content that reflects and reinforces their perspective and worldview.”

Comcast, the country’s largest cable provider, was identified as a partner in a promotional document put together by RightNetwork and discovered online by the blog Crooks and Liars on Saturday. Apparently assuming that the document was accurate, The Huffington Post called the venture “Tea Party TV” and put up a story saying “RightNetwork Launching In 2010 With Comcast As Partner.” Other Web sites published similar stories.

Stelter did not include Mediaite in his list, but he very well could have. In the interest of candor, the original version of this post follows.

Now we understand why Bill O’Reilly may have given an unprovoked shout-out to Comcast last week. Last week, the self-professed traditionalist called Comcast an “honest corporation” that could turn NBC around.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Fox News and NBC have long been at battle over news divisions and reportage that has extended far beyond the MSNBC vs Fox News (which is looking more and more like David vs. Goliath.) No, Fox News opinion journalists effectively attacked NBC-Universal parent company GE and its CEO Jeffrey Immelt for, among other things, selling arms to Iran. But last year news broke that GE had agreed to sell its television and movie unit to Comcast (which is still awaiting government approval), and many wondered how Comcast leadership may affect the constant battle between the two news divisions.

Last December, Politico reported that Comcast would not rule out launching a right-leaning competitor to Fox News, but adding that Comcast would not “tamper with NBC or MSNBC’s operations. Well now we know what he is talking about.

It’s still early in the RightNetwork’s launching cycle, and few details have emerged. Their YouTube channel features 15 promotional clips, the leading clip is of actor Kelsey Grammer discussing all things “right.” Other clips promote a right-leaning comedy show called Right to Laugh; a reality show called Running tracking six rookie candidates running from a conservative platform; another show called Politics and Poker and a pro-Tea Party music video by a rapper named “Polatik” (which is most likely deserving of its won “this exists” post for later.)

Judging by the passionate and loyal followers of the Tea Party movement, RightNetworks looks and feels like it will be a successful venture (particularly given the high production values of their show trailers.) By no means should Fox News be worried by this development – more likely, this will be presented by many involved by claiming that “competition is a good thing” and that there are plans for cooperating with one another. But the existence of a potential competitor changes the binary construct of “us vs. them” that Fox News so effectively applies in their approach. Or in other words, FNC can no longer blame the parent company of NBC, if they also have RightNetworks in their fold.

As the Atlantic Wire pointed out, few people have such nice things to say about Comcast. In fact, it had the country’s worst customer service rating in both 2004 and 2007. So why would O’Reilly go out of his way to compliment them? We looked into finding a connection between the anchor and the cable company (if only we could just check the common friends on their Facebook pages!) and may have found the origins of O’Reilly’s Comcast camaraderie.

In 2008, Barry Nolan, an anchorman for the Comcast owned CN8 tried to start a protest of O’Reilly after the New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which he was a member of, decided to present its Governor’s Award to the Fox News anchor. Nolan began handing out leaflets with inflammatory quotes from O’Reilly at the event in an attempt to drum up anti-Factor sentiment. Comcast then promptly fired Nolan, a move which must have earned some amount of respect and gratitude from O’Reilly.

Was that what caused O’Reilly to make to make his comments last night or is there a much more sinister connection. Personally, we hope for the latter because sinister connections always make more interesting posts. In any case, with O’Reilly’s endorsement and the three-way WiFi deal yesterday, perhaps public opinion about the cable giant is going to swing upwards. Maybe they can even hope for second worst customer service rating in 2010!

In the following clip, Alec Baldwin‘s character Jack Donaghy meets with a former NBC colleague who is now at Kabletown, who is all to eager to alleviate Donaghy’s fears for being laid off. The reason why their revenue goals are set for the future? The profits of smut pedding…

But for many, the real highlight of last night’s episode was the trash-talking cameo by Nightly News anchor Brian Williams (also known as “the funny one” amongst the NBC News talent lineup), taunting fictional CNBC host Avery Jessup, played by Elizabeth Banks. The cameo is a recurring role for Williams, whose comedic acting chops might lead to a second career if the news anchor “thing” doesn’t work out.

There were many significant and ongoing narratives in the mediascape this year. The continued explosion of online media dovetailed with the continued collapse of print — Condé Nast ushered in the McKinsey executors while Gawker Media posted huge profits. Meanwhile, Newsweek tried to reinvent itself, the New York Times suffered another round of layoffs and a host of shuttered papers and magazines stopped cold. Online we saw huge acquisitions and gains, but not without growing pains: the net had its fair share of job cuts, too, as advertising slumped across the board. But as media critic David Carr put it, there’s an underlying wave of youth and optimism.

This year we also saw opinion media dominate traditional journalism in ways that no one would ever have expected. Fox News pulled further ahead of the competition with the continued success of Bill O’Reilly and a breakout year from Glenn Beck, not to mention the network’s similar domination of straight news blocks. The Huffington Post kept momentum from the kickstart of the 2008 election, while the right feasted on a first year president.

Pop culture had its moments, too — not all of them pretty, in fact, most pretty ugly — from Balloon Boy and Kanye “Jackass” West to Rihanna and the death of Michael Jackson. As a result, gossip blogs had another stellar year and TMZ led the pack. Then came MTV’s latest gem.

It often seemed like a rough year — maybe a fitting end to a tough decade — but that doesn’t mean there weren’t bright spots. We saw innovation, redemption and reconciliation, and the tactful and savvy rose to the top of the media heap. Those are the names that make up The Mediaite 50.

RELATED: Poll: Who Is The Top Online Editor Of 2009?

(Note – the rankings of these individuals are purely opposed to the rankings in the Mediaite Power Grid)

>>>NEXT: The first 5 in the Mediaite 50 include a crew from Seaside Heights and a young man you might just Digg…

]]> http://www.mediaite.com/online/the-mediaite-50-innovators-and-influencers-who-shook-up-2009/feed/ 11