How To Revive NBC?
If Comcast is really serious about avoiding future derogatory adjectives — like “dumber” pipe — it should take a page out of a business it has long been associated with: Build NBC up as a cable network. Forget about all the digital/online distribution of content for the moment — and even the issue about whether Jeff Zucker should hang around after the deal is completed. Holding onto the NBC network and giving it a new financial model is the real key. Getting a dollar a subscriber as a cable network will give NBC around $1.2 billion a year to play with, added to the two billion or so it already gets from national TV advertising per year. NBC’s brand, while diminished, still has value. It still speaks of quality writing — especially when looking at “30 Rock” or “The Office” or “Community.” But it needs a lot more — things only a cable entity can provide. Just think of it. As a cable network, it could have held onto to the likes of a “Southland” — a critics’ favorite — all because
