Tag archive: NBC

In the biggest example to date that Web streaming is becoming a must-do service, NBC announced today that the Super Bowl — television's most-watched event — will be streamed online, and to mobile phones, for the first time ever. Wild card Saturday and the Pro Bowl will also be streamed. The 2012 Super Bowl stream will be available through NBC.com, and through the NFL Mobile app, which is only available to Verizon Wireless customers. In… Read More

It is pretty safe to say that to this point Google TV has been a flop, but Google hasn’t given up hope on the system just yet. Google has announced that a big update is coming to your local set top box, or Google TV enabled TV soon. It is too late for Google TV to make a good first impression, but so this update might be too little too late to win back the heart of customers. Google claims that it has addressed the four biggest areas of concern… Read More

Announced last week, NBC brought an update to its iPad application which allows users to watch ad-supported episodes of 28 popular NBC shows including The Office, Community, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, America's Got Talent, Chuck, 30 Rock and The Biggest Loser. Oddly, this eliminates a reason for iPad owners to subscribe to Hulu Plus, the streaming video company that's partly owned by NBCUniversal and currently up for sale to the… Read More

The Twitter news feed of NBC, which has about 130,000 followers, was hacked on Friday afternoon by a group calling itself The Script Kiddies. Several fake tweets were posted reporting that a plane had crashed into Ground Zero in New York City. The hack comes just a couple of days before the US marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the country. The first fake tweet said: “Breaking News! Ground Zero has just been attacked.… Read More

While Netflix subscribers have voiced displeasure with the company on the Web all day due to a 60 percent price increase announced yesterday, Netflix quietly announced a renewed, multi-year contract agreement with NBC Universal. The new deal keeps all the existing NBC content online and adds the latest seasons of shows like The Office, Psych and Law and Order: SVU. Netflix Instant subscribers will also see more classic NBC television like Leave… Read More

News service Bloomberg has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communication Commission alleging that cable giant Comcast is violating the terms of its controversial merger with NBC Universal by exiling its Bloomberg TV news channel to the remote hinterlands of cable channel selections—along with the likes of C-SPAN 2 and C-SPAN 3—rather than grouping it with other major news outlets like CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox. Bloomberg's complaint… Read More

A Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission who voted to approve the controversial merger of telecommunications giant Comcast and NBC Universal is now taking a job with Comcast as a Washington lobbyist. Meredith Attwell Baker, a Republican FCC Commissioner who formerly worked in the Commerce Department for President George W. Bush, was one of four FCC Commissioners who voted in January to approve Comcast's $13.75 billion deal… Read More

NBC's spy-nerd-next-door series Chuck is once again on the bubble between renewal and cancellation. This time the show's fans have decided to shift gears and use the power of social media in their mission to get Chuck picked up for it's fifth season. This week, the fans have begun a twitter campaign in an effort to become more visible to the show's advertisers. Every Monday, according to: We Give a Chuck the fan site… Read More

Online video service Hulu has defied many industry watchers' expectations by managing to juggle the competing interests of its partner companies and continuing to offer selected current and catalog television and movie programming as free, ad-supported content. However, Hulu's decision to launch a paid subscription service—Hulu Plus—back in mid-2010 was met with skepticism. Would customers really be willing to fork over… Read More

There’s no question that Google is the king of search – and has many other far-reaching plans for its Internet applications. Problem is, the US government sees this as its play for total Web domination. Senator Herb Kohl announced the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights' agenda for 2011 today, revealing it wants to address Google’s “dominance over Internet search,” as well as “allegations raised by e-commerce… Read More

We don't usually cover television, but when Will Ferrell decides to drop in, we make an exception. In an effort to retain interest in hit-show The Office after Steve Carell leaves toward the end of this season, NBC plans to bring in the funniest guy they can find: Will Ferrell. The actor will guest star in four episodes toward the end of the workplace comedy's current (seventh) season. The last time the two worked together was… Read More

Hulu may be one of the most-watched online video services in the United States, but the service faces tough competition from the likes of Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Video-on-Demand, and iTunes, not to mention on-demand offerings from cable companies. And according to The Wall Street Journal, Hulu's founders haven't been able to agree whether offering first-run television content for free is helping or hurting their business… Read More

The Federal Communications Commission has granted its approval to the controversial merger between U.S. cable and Internet operator Comcast and the NBC Universal (PDF). Under the deal, Comcast will be allowed to take a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal, but the FCC is imposing terms to ensure Comcast doesn't use its position as both a creator and distributor of content to stifle competition, particularly in the online video… Read More

Just days after announcing a new framework for network neutrality—which is largely being interpreted as favoring corporate interests over consumer rights and a free Internet—FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed conditions for the pending merger between cable giant Comcast and broadcaster NBC Universal. The conditions, if enacted, would guarantee Comcast's competitors would have reasonable, non-discriminatory access to… Read More

With both Apple and Google now anxiously pawing at the door to consumer living rooms with products like Apple TV and Google TV, it should come as little surprise that Microsoft is apparently lumbering down from Redmond to poke its face in the doorway, too. Early reports suggest Microsoft is developing a paid television service that would use the Xbox 360 to pipe content to TVs. It may be just a sliver of a rumor at the moment, but the concept… Read More