UPDATE: When I say done, I mean the deal, not the approval. There still needs to be a few layers of regulatory approval before it's, you know, really done (as in the opposite of rare, which is how I like my steak).
Well c'mon, they already got rid of Bachelor Ben and someone's head is going to roll.
I just hope they don't install Ted Harbert in that position ... if they do Chelsea Handler will be hosting the nightly news, Sunday Night Football, The Biggest Loser, she'll be the dean on Community, the star of another remake of Knight Rider (renamed Night Rider for obvious reasons) and the new official symbol with be a bottle of Grey Goose.
Zucker. Zucker! ZUCKER!!! Look what you hath wrought!
Go to TheWrap.com, and particularly to Joe Adalian's TV Mo Joe blog for details and analysis and Joe's five point plan to begin to turn things around at the network of chimes that teach music theory students intervals (hey, it worked for me).
Those five points from Joe include moving Jay Leno to 8 pm, the aforementioned Zucker point and "spending like a druken sailor." Expect the NBC peacock to get a tattoo that reads "Back From The Dead."
The full press release, for you wonks, is at this link.
The new entity will be called the Comcast Entertainment Group and will include, besides all the NBC properties the E! and Style cable network, regional sports channels they have across the country, Versus (known almost exclusively for their NHL deal and bicycle races) and The Golf Channel, known primarily for showing you men in madras pants walking along on the grass and hitting a little tiny ball with a stick.
(With the Tiger Woods revelations this week, I betcha The Golf Channel is worth less today than it was before "the incident" and its fallout. Ouch -- on two levels.)
Unexpected surprise of all this for me is that it positions Comcast to take a run at the Disney/ABC owned ESPN, what with the regional sportsters, their two other sports cablers, the power of NBC Sports and the ramping up of the Universal Sports brand. That's something to look at in the future.
And bagging Bravo, USA and Syfy (they are responsible for about 50 percent of all cable TV viewing) is a coup.
Of course, any media consolidation, in my book, is bad for the viewers. Less choice means fewer points of view. And there's always the danger of Rachel Maddow at MSNBC (yes, that's part of the deal as well) having to take on a drunk, blonde slut as a co-host.
And Chuy, too? Yes, boys and girls, Chuy too. But that would probably make Zucker happy, he'd no longer be the shortest guy in the company.
More details as shakeout, the eventual merging and eventual firing occur.
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