We’re not sure if you’ve heard the news, but things over at NBC are going pretty disastrously at the moment. Not so disastrously that proposed suitor Comcast is thinking of backing out of their $30 billion merger, mind you, but disastrously enough that Comcast chairman Brian Roberts was forced to answer a question at the Congressional Internet Caucus’ State of the Net Conference in Washington this week about whether the cable giant had any thoughts of moving the struggling network to cable. “We want take that fear right off the table,” Roberts said. “We think there is a vibrant role for local broadcast and national broadcast television and intend to keep NBC a free, over-the-air channel.” Phew! But wait, these new suitors can’t exactly be thrilled with the way the Jeffs (Zucker and Gaspin, natch) handled the whole Leno-Conan thing, can they?
Well, we’re not sure. Because the deal has not been approved by government regulators yet, Roberts was forced to bite his tongue. “It is a frustrating period of time because we are unable, legally, to comment,” he told the group. However, he did add that diminutive NBC exec Jeff Zucker is “going to be the CEO of the company” and that he would “answer all the questions” about the company’s recent blunders just as soon as the deal gets approved. For our (and Bill Carter’s!) sake, we certainly hope that deal happens sooner rather than later.
Roberts: Fears Of Comcast Migrating NBC To Cable Net Should Be ‘Off the Table’ [Broadcasting & Cable]
