The (Negative) Comcast Effect Reaches the NFL

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Comcast bought NBC (uh, the biggest cable company buys one of the biggest networks but that's no problem with the anti-trust boys, right?) and almost immediately **** Ebersol quits NBC sports. Ebersol has been a hugely creative force in TV sports, from the Olympics to the popular Sunday night football. Ebersol's fingerprints have been all over the NFL and many of the best sports productions for decades and the instant Comcast (the company that could screw up the formula for water but then still overcharge for it) buys NBC he quits. Coincidence? Hardly. Comcast is a scourge upon the earth, and they've proved it again.

 

[Gwedd]

I am ecstatic that I was able to dump ComCast & get Direct TV. The picture quality is actually better, and my bill for the 1st year is less than half what I was paying for cable. Even when the discounts go away, the cost(s) will still be less than ComCast, for more channels.

 

[Rob0729]

Is Ebersol much of a loss? What does NBC have to offer in sports other than Sunday Night Football and the Olympics? Ebersol got lucky with Sunday Night Football because Disney got duped by the NFL when they decided to move Monday Night Football to ESPN for a billion a year (far bigger than any of the network deals) and the NFL wanted their marquee game of the week on network television. If Disney kept Monday Night Football on ABC, NBC would have nothing except the Olympics every two years.

Football Night in America is virtually unwatchable. He couldn't even turn the repairing of Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann remotely close to the magic they had in their ESPN days (granted I blame Olbermann who has gone from his dry humor to self-righteousness). Only Rodney is occassionally interesting because he speaks his mind.

His decade long Olympics deal has been a mixed bag with some of the lowest ratings in Olympic history (especially when he much criticized tape delayed broadcasts of marquee events where everyone knew the results from the Internet and other medias) and some of the highest. Either way, NBC grossly overpaid for the decade long package. He decided in 1998 not to renew the AFC package for the NFL and replaced the loss two years later with Vince MacMahon's XFL. He lost MLB which has forced the world to have to bear Bob Costas covering sports he has no business covering like football. He overpaid to steal the NBA away from CBS.

NBC is the fourth place network. Their sports offerings are not great other than Sunday Night Football. I don't see the loss of Ebersol as being a negative. I mean this guy had the brilliant insight in 1998 that the NFL was never going to be a big deal and wisely got rid of them. Ebersol's career is way overrated.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

Unless I'm mistaken Sunday night is the most watched NFL broadcast of the week, not Monday's anymore. But fine, Ebersol is overrated, he may be. My point was how nearly everything Comcast gets involved with they screw up and then overcharge for it anyway.

 

[The Boston Patriot]

My point was how nearly everything Comcast gets involved with they screw up and then overcharge for it anyway.

I've just switched to Verizon FIOS after having been with Comcast for years
and I kick myself every time I watch it for not switching when they first wired
my town. Comcast is just an awful company and service.

 

[Rob0729]

Unless I'm mistaken Sunday night is the most watched NFL broadcast of the week, not Monday's anymore. But fine, Ebersol is overrated, he may be. My point was how nearly everything Comcast gets involved with they screw up and then overcharge for it anyway.

First, you cannot screw up NBC anymore than it already did. You could put monkeys in charge of NBC and they would smart enough to know that moving Jay Leno to 10PM would be one of the worst mistake in network television history.

Second, yes Sunday Night Football is incredibly popular, but that is just luck by Ebersol. Disney gave him that just like Ebersol gave CBS Sunday football. Disney made the brilliant move that they decided they didn't want to keep both Sunday and Monday night football and then made that mistake even further by moving Monday Night Football to ESPN. I will give Ebersol the credit for capitalizing on that huge blunder by Disney who didn't see the value in paying for both nights, but it wasn't that Ebersol came up with this brilliant idea that no one else thought of. When Sunday Night Football was in play, it was a no brainer for NBC to buy the rights especially with no other network contributor.

Third, you can't do much to screw up Football Night in America which is really the only thing Comcast could make significant changes in Sunday Night Football other than replacing Collinsworth (which might not be a bad thing) and Al Michaels. Other than Rodney and occassionally Peter King and Mike Florio, I find no redeeming qualities of Football Night in America. Comcast couldn't do much to screw that up if anything, they might make it better.

Again, the way Jeff Zucker destroyed NBC, I can't see how Comcast could do any worse. NBC gets beat out on a lot of shows by basic cable programming. As long as Comcast doesn't put on a test pattern, they can't do much worse (although a test pattern might get better ratings than The Cape did).

 

[Gator Mike]

Is Ebersol much of a loss?

Not really. Ebersol's a big name, but he's vastly overrated.

I mean, the guy lost $230+ million on one Olympics.

 

[Why?PJ]

Comcast bought NBC (uh, the biggest cable company buys one of the biggest networks but that's no problem with the anti-trust boys, right?) and almost immediately **** Ebersol quits NBC sports. Ebersol has been a hugely creative force in TV sports, from the Olympics to the popular Sunday night football. Ebersol's fingerprints have been all over the NFL and many of the best sports productions for decades and the instant Comcast (the company that could screw up the formula for water but then still overcharge for it) buys NBC he quits. Coincidence? Hardly. Comcast is a scourge upon the earth, and they've proved it again.

Did that really happen? I have a hard time believing GE would give up its most prominent network.

So they didn't sell it entirely. They just sold a controlling share, while keeping 49% ownership. So sadly all the political junk GE tortured NBC and its networks with will probably stay.

In reality it looks like not much will change. They will just combine ownership with a bunch more channels, and that is about it.

 

[NE39]

Ebersol said he quit over money. He saw a big workload and felt he needed a big raise to deal with it. When they told him no, he resigned.

I'm don't really have anything to say about Comcast, as I have had DirectTV for a long time, but you can't tie Ebersol's leaving to anything else. He has said it wasn't due to anything other than money.

 

[Pats Fanatic]

Not really. Ebersol's a big name, but he's vastly overrated.

I mean, the guy lost $230+ million on one Olympics.

I agree with this though Ebersol did save Saturday Night Live in the 80's( all though the last 15 years they have stunk but that is not his fault).