NBC National Broadcasting Corporation

1. NBCNational Broadcasting Corporation • 1950s – sets standard for color TV (with FCC) • Creates “magazine” format for selling advertising – shifts program creation from advertisers to networks. • Huntley-Brinkley Report changes the style and length of network news

2. NBC takes a dive • Drops to third place in 1970s behind even lowly ABC • Hires Grant Tinker as president and makes comeback in late 1980s. • Shows like Cheers, Hill Street Blues and superhit The Cosby Show take NBC to the top of the ratings.

3. General Electric Buys RCA and NBC • 1985 – G.E. buys its old competitor • G.E. slashes NBC budget – especially hurts the news division • But NBC develops big hits – Seinfeld, Frazier, E.R., Friends. • G.E. gobbles up cable channels: Arts and Entertainment, Court TV, American Movie Classics, Bravo, Sports Channel America, and the History Channel.

4. ABC Happy Days • Perennial ratings loser ABC finally has a big hit with Roots … based on Alex Haley’s novel • Roots – the most successful mini-series, an innovation in itself. • Other successes: Wide World of Sports, Happy Days

5. ABC is bought by . . . • Capital Cities – 1985 • Disney 1996 • The Disney Channel, ABC Family, Toon Disney, the ESPN group and SOAPnet. Disney also holds substantial interest in Lifetime (50%), A&E (37.5%), and E! (40%). • Through ABC, Disney also owns 10 local television stations, 26 local radio stations, and ESPN Radio, Radio Disney, and ABC Radio News, which carries such radio personalities as Sean Hannity and Paul Harvey. Buena Vista Television, which also is a part of the Media Networks unit, produces such syndicated television programs as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Ebert & Roeper.

6. Other Networks • Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation launches the Fox Network in 1985 • Began with six company owned stations as affiliates • First shows: Married . . . With Children (ran 11 years) and short lived Tracy Ulman show which spawned the longest running sitcom ever … The Simpsons

7. Fox Plays Ball • 1993- bids 1.58 BILLION DOLLARS for rights to four years of National Football Conference. (NFC) • NFL agrees to the deal. • Clearly established Fox as the fourth major network, equal to the big three.

8. How Radio Paved the Way For TV • Government decided to go with free market system for radio with oversight rather than government controlled system • Established Federal Regulatory system – FCC • Developed programming • Developed networks • Advertising systems for broadcast were developed

9. Top Ten Media Companies-U.S. • 1 Time Warner • 2 Comcast Corp. • 3 Viacom (CBS) • 4 Walt Disney Co. (ABC) • 5 NBC Universal (General Electric Co.) • 6 Cox Enterprises • 7 DirecTV Group • 8 News Corp. (Fox) • 9 Gannett Co. • 10 Clear Channel Communications

10. Public Broadcast • Before 1967 college and some local radio stations had educational programming. Very few TV stations. • The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - a funding organization to develop public television and radio networks.

11. Public Networks • National Public Radio – (NPR) 1967 • American Public Radio – (APR) mid 1980s • Public Broadcast System (PBS) 1967 TV network

12. How Public Media is Funded • Subscriber (listener) donations • Underwriting • Government funding

13. Controversy Creates Funding Problems • 1970s – Nixon administration claimed public television had a left wing bias – began funding cuts • Conservatives continued to attack public media, cut funding • Public media had to rely more on corporate funding (underwriting) • Corporate sponsors refuse to fund programming they considered politically incorrect (damaging to corporate interests)

14. CPB Board Member Forced to Resign • November 4 2005 Kenneth Tomlinson resigns as head of CPB • A disgraced Tomlinson was shown the door at the CPB two days after their IG issued a report detailing Tomlinson's efforts to impose a partisan agenda on PBS and other publicly funded programming.