Comcast looking to buy NBC?
By Nilay Patel 
posted October 5th 2009 9:02PM
posted October 5th 2009 9:02PM
posted October 5th 2009 9:02PM
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No offense, but Comcast seriously is not doing well in the cable/ISP business. My internet was out all day (until just now), and people with "mission critical" internet based businesses that lived around me really suffered. They should get their game straight with their core services before expanding...
I can see it now:
Comcast enforces/reduces their download/streaming cap, except for their NBC online streaming ventures, and other Comcast properties.
Well DirecTV dropped the Comcast controlled Vs. network (really no out of market hockey for me?), maybe they'll drop NBC next... On a side note, Comcast will own 100% of the NHL Finals!
I just want them to broadcast in full 1080p. Is that too much to ask?
Yes
If this happens I am possibly out of a really great job. Fuck.
YES COMCAST! Please destroy America's #4 TV Network even more, if that's possible. They don't have a single #1 TV show in any time slot on any night. They're #3 or #4 every night. Leno is just a plain loser. He was falling behind ABC's NIGHTLINE when he was on later, which is now the #1 late night TV program in America. Now he's doing even worse.
NBC is the only network I currently watch any shows on, if Comcast takes over, and stops that network from being aired for other providers (I use U-verse) then I guess I'll be waiting for shows to show up on netflix and I won't be paying for cable at all.
Comcast already cut back employee benefits to pay for this this year.
Also, it's no surprise they have terrible customer service. While every other customer service company has "customer satisfaction" as the number 1 corporate goal every year, Comcast has only moved that goal from number 5 to number 1 JUST THIS YEAR.
Now you know why they suck so bad.
Thats an interesting list, but christian crusader led Blackwater i would leave out.
@Xoyuji
Fuck that; I'd rather have Microsoft, Halliburton, Blackwater, Best Buy, Ebay, or Live Nation over Comcast
I are want spambots baleted
How long can Hulu really survive NOT charging for content? They have been talking about subscriptions and other types of PAID models. The free stuff can't go on forever...
You know what? That's FINE with me. In fact it's more than fine, it's exactly how I want it. I want to be able to buy a season of streaming access to a show. Or to a network. I dropped cable TV five years ago, and I don't miss 99% of the content that was available. If Hulu started offering the entire lineup of NBC and FOX (and for that matter, ABC and CBS, if they could convince them to buy in on it), I would absolutely pay for the shows I want to watch, especially if they were 720p, available at the same time as broadcast, and had no DRM. Even better, these studios would be able to see that shows like "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" were not unpopular, they were just popular in ways and places that they weren't measuring. It'd be good for everyone (except Comcast, which is exactly why they are trying to do this, and no offense to anyone, but Comcast can eat the Devil's dick in the center of Hell).
The lazy sonofabitch that hooked up my "triple play" gave me a router with a messed up power plug (has to be wiggled just right for it to get power), gave me a cable box that turns off/on when it gets hot and also the menu and button presses lag, and DIDN"T EVEN HOOK UP MY HD BOX TO MY TV! He said "your tv is messed up, thats why the HD channels dont have picture, just sound". I got home from work and flipped out. What a loser..I had my tv hooked up in about 4 mins. And no..he wasn't black...can you believe that?
How was this under the radar ? All week pretty much last week conan obrian was making jokes about it.
If you watch too much NBC, Comcast will start charging you extra money for going over your monthly viewing quota.
My main concern here is the further consolidation of media outlets in the U.S. When so much media is controlled by so few, it really can't lead to good things, can it?
Well now I guess that depends on your perspective. If you're one of the 20 or so people owning things at the top, where this will make you $500 billion instead of $100 billion, then yes, I guess this is a good thing.
On the other hand, if you're one of the average citizens of our country that enjoys their personal freedoms, limits on ownership of intellectual property, and not having to pay $500 a month for ISP/other services, then no, this is probably not a good thing.
Someone pinch me, this is got to be a hell of a NIGHTMARE.
It's funny really that COMCAST can't seem to find the money to upgrade there networks around the US in the middle of all this and complain that certain users use up all the bandwidth and the wine that its's too expensive to upgrade existing networks.
We should give them a government subsidy to help them out!
I wonder if this will result in six weeks of no news service from NBC being considered normal like it was when five technicians and a line tech crew came to my apt to fix my internet which had no service. Comcast is the lousiest excuse for a company I've seen. I respect GE, but don't really care about NBC or the associated brands, but this sounds like bad news to me.
Buy NBC and fire all the liberals.
What will Obama do then?
WTF does this have to do with liberals or Obama?
Seriously... WTF? Are you that guy who has to make a comment about "libs" or Obama in EVERY thread and conversation, even when the topic is nothing to do with politics?
Don't you have a tea party or Beck circle-jerk to attend?
After the situation with Versus right now, I'm thinking that DirecTV will most definitely have something to say about this and will do everything in their power to keep this from happening as they really can't risk their biggest competitor being in control of that many of their channels.
Jeff Imelt haven't found a division he couldn't sell or spin off. If he worked for anyone else would have been fired long ago. In 10 years took ge stock from $56 to $13. reduced company size by about a third.
What a maroon
Wow not bad for a bunch of guys who strung a cable down the street a long time ago.....
Never going to happen watch.
Does that mean the rest of America can enjoy watching NBC shows on TV and Hulu with the same overcompression that Comcast normally gives to all of its cable users? Yay!
Watch the entire Heroes series on your TV or mobile phone! It's only 2.4MB!
This won't get approved; not by a longshot. The biggest issue here is that Comcast own many many content delivery pipes, and now they're owning an increasing amount of content. FCC and the FTC won't allow this at this juncture, especially with the trouble Comcast got into for throttling, FCC not liking the caps (and the Better Business Bureau sniffing around that).
Suffice to say, the deal is going to fall through. Ain't gonna happen.
DirecTV and Comcast are already in a pissing match over Versus so DirecTV dropped Versus. If Comcast buys NBC this will be bad news for satellite customers, mark my words.
Like others are saying, Comcast is 100% about control. They don't want NBC for its revenue. They want to throw a choke collar on it and bend a chunk of the industry to its will. Same goes for their ISP data cap ploy. They're not trying to provide better service for the average users they claim only use 2 GB per month but are somehow choked off by the people who know what streaming is, online video rental downloads, multi-GB sized game demos... They know there are users out there who are increasingly relying on those services and that they can throw a cap on low enough to force them to pay for premium service.
Personally, I was kicked off of their internet service when they claimed I had used 500 GB of bandwidth in 1 month. They turned me back on, I scoured my network to make sure everything was secure, threw on a usage meter, and called back to ask how I was doing. They wouldn't tell me and said they had no way to measure my usage and that there was no cap. 15 days later, they claimed I used another 500 GB and banned me for a year. According to the meter I put on, I hadn't used more than about 15 GB.
Then came the month long ordeal and dealing with 27 individual Comcast employs to get the $10 HD service for my $20 limited basic account (broadcast/local channels only) on my new Tivo HD. First they tried to tell me I couldn't use cable cards. Then they tried to tell me it was Tivo's fault. Then they said it was because the line traps were reducing signal and I'd need to buy full basic for the stronger signal. That didn't work. Then they said the problem was the cards and that they weren't being manufactured anymore. What did it turn out to be? The very first person I spoke with, who took my order, put a cable box on it. When it was removed, everything started working perfectly....
Boy I hate comcast, but maybe NBC'd stop being obama's whore if they got bought out. Comcast doesn't' give a fat crap what anybody wants.