NBC Universal Unveils New Logo. FAIL.

The New (ugly) "logo." --from source, Huffington Post

There is a lot I don't like about the Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal. I mean, NBC Universal was already the merger of two big media companies. Every network was already owned by a huge conglomerate (Viacom owns two of them, CBS and the CW). As with seemingly everything else in this country, one of these days, there will probably be only a couple of giant owners, splitting the whole media pie. You can go to any hardware store you want, as long as it's Home Depot or Lowes. Any book store, as long as it's Borders or Barnes & Noble. Any media source, as long as it's DisneyViacomWarnerFox or ComcastNBCUniversal.

Previous (better) logo --from source, Huffington Post

I'm a graphic artist though, so another problem is their hideous new logo. NBC has done great things with logos over the years, with the great brand recognition of their peacock. The previous corporate logo neatly blended the two identities of NBC and Universal. It was cool; simple but classy. The new one? It isn't a logo at all. It's a typeface. And it isn't even an attractive typeface. Somebody gets paid for this stuff? How do you get a gig like that?

[Excerpt]

NBC Universal's New Logo Ditches Peacock


NBC Universal is now NBCUniversal - without the space, the peacock or the globe silhouette.



That was part of the message delivered to the company's 25,000 employees at a town hall gathering on Thursday that featured top executives from prospective new owner Comcast Corp. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

So, It Looks Like Keith Olbermann Was Fired After All

Image from SodaHead.com

I get that former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann had a reputation for being difficult to work with. I get that his liberal viewpoint probably gave the conservative higher-ups at GE (and now Comcast) acid indigestion. But I still can't see the wisdom of firing their biggest ratings grabber, apparently for company politics.  But I wonder if they did a little studying on how this was all going to pan out. Their calculus may be playing out for them, since their ratings--at least in their first Keith-less week--don't seem to have gone down all that much.

As for Olbermann, I'm sure he'll land on his feet. Eight years was a long time to be on the same channel at the same time. It's a longer stretch than many if not most cable news programs. I mean, remember Rita Cosby Live & Direct? The Verdict with Dan Abrams? Scarborough Country? Those are just three of the shows that followed Countdown with Keith Olbermann in recent years, before the debut of The Rachel Maddow Show.

[Excerpt]


Burke on Olbermann: ‘This Was a Decision Made By NBC News Management, Steve Capus and Phil Griffin’


At noon today, NBC Universal (now called, apparently NBCUniversal) held a town hall meeting in the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” studio, where new CEO Steve Burke was interviewed by “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams. . .
 
Read more at: TV Newser

Comcast Buys NBC-Universal

Image from source, New York Times

Aaaannnd media consolidation gets even more consolidated-ier. I guess "trust busting" just ain't gonna happen anymore? I'm sure 30 Rock will get some humor out of the situation, assuming of course that NBC gets to stay at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. I wonder if Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow will be allowed to opine about this on MSNBC? Or shoot, what'll even happen to MSNBC. Yikes.

[Excerpt]

Comcast Gets NBC From G.E. in Deal

After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, announced an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Bill Press Calls for Reinstatement of "Fairness Doctrine"

Image from source, Washington Post

For some time now, conservative talk radio and FOX "News" have been railing about the possible reinstatement of the "fairness doctrine." They call it the "Hush Rush" bill, with the implication that it will knock conservo-talk off the air. It would do nothing of the kind. It would just stop--or temper--the wall-to-wall right wing blather on every AM station that isn't sports. They'd have to offer some opposing views. Fair and balanced, and all that.

Up until now, it is the rare liberal talker or politician that has actively sought out a restoration of the doctrine. The issue has been largely an invented one on the right, something else to get their listeners riled up. But the issue does have merit. Why does Rush Limbaugh sometimes play on more than one station in a given radio market? Why do cities like Columbus, Ohio; Las Vegas, Nevada; or even Washington DC have no liberal/progressive talk at all?

Don't tell me there's no market for it. We just had a sea-change in the electorate. Don't tell me there's no talent, with Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes out there (Rachel Maddow having been poached by MSNBC). It's a concerted effort by a very small number of people who control radio to shut liberal talk out. And that's not tinfoil hat wing-nuttery. It's easily researched.

It is not unusual for a liberal talk station to have its format changed to sports or other programming, only to plunge in the ratings after the transition. So why do they switch?

At the risk of turning the conservo-talkers' faux issue into a real one, I'm starting to think that the Fairness Doctrine would be a pretty good idea. But even better, media ownership should be trust-busted. The old AT&T/Bell System breakup, only in broadcasting, cable, studio ownership, print media. . . Media consolidation has been a disaster.

[Excerpt]

Another Right-Wing Conspiracy in Washington?

The commercial use of public airwaves is supposed to reflect the diversity of the local community, but that's not how it works in Washington. On the AM dial, WMAL (630) features wall-to-wall conservative talk. So do stations WTNT (570) and WHFS (1580). For the past two years, OBAMA 1260 -- even with a weak signal that cannot be heard in downtown Washington -- was the exception. No longer. Starting tomorrow, our nation's capital, where Democrats control the House, the Senate and the White House, and where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10 to one, will have no progressive voices on the air. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

Murdoch Media Monopoly... Nope, not yet...

Photo of 'Murdoch in the bush' Courtesy of Satan
Well Mr. Moneybags was out smarted on this one. Good. That will be one less opportunity for a foreigner to control & destroy our (and I say this laughingly) freedom of press, assembly & speech.

Story courtesy of the AP via MSNBC
NEW YORK - News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has withdrawn its bid to purchase the Long Island daily paper Newsday, a News Corp. spokeswoman said Saturday.

The decision to revoke the offer came just days after Murdoch confidently predicted he would clinch a deal to buy the newspaper within a week.

...more at MSNBC

"Junk Food" News Is Making Us Sick

Just watch. Then, DO something. . .

Rupert Murdoch Acquires BeliefNet

Photo from CBS News

Well, Rupert Murdoch has managed to buy himself into every corner of Earthly society. I suppose he's trying to buy himself into heaven now. . . Codgerly as he is (oh yeah, and evil), I suppose it's worth a try.

[Excerpt]

Murdoch Gets Religion

Rupert Murdoch's global media empire announced Tuesday that it has acquired Beliefnet, the largest faith and spirituality information site on the Web, for an undisclosed sum.

Beliefnet will become part of Fox Digital Media, which consists mostly of News Corp.'s popular social networking site, MySpace. The move looks like part of News Corp.'s efforts to expand its vast media reach onto the Internet, where Wall Street sees the best growth opportunities for media conglomerates. . .

Read the rest at: The Street

Hat-tip to Stupid Monkey Planet for the link

Get Active: Tell the FCC "NO" to Media Consolidation

The FCC is once again attempting to loosen the rules to allow further media consolidation. Presently, a radio or television station owner is prohibited from owning a newspaper in the same metropolitan area. The FCC is set to change that.

I can see no benefit to the general public to further reduce the number of media voices heard and read in any given area. The media is already consolidated to the point where the vast majority of it is owned by five or six big corporations. Who is the FCC really working for here, the public, or big business?

You can make your voice heard by following the link in this excerpt. Please read the full story for more background. Get active!

[Excerpt]

Media Consolidation: A primer on making your opinion heard

. . .You can file a comment with the FCC online. Click on the circle next to "Media Ownership Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - Docket 06-121," then click "Continue" at the bottom of the page. You can also send comments straight to each of the five commissioners – or the FCC as a whole – via email, phone, fax, or mail. If you choose one of those routes, make sure you mention that you're commenting on "Docket 06-121" - the bureaucracy's name for Martin's proposal. . .

Read it all at: Bill Moyers Journal

Puzzling FCC Consolidation Changes

Photo of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, from source, Raw Story

I remember social studies classes back in elementary and junior high schools, learning about the early 1900s. Much attention was paid to trust busting, regulation of industry, eliminating worker abuses, things like that. The picture painted for us, was of corporations gone wild, but reigned in just in time. While I was learning all of that, Jimmy Carter led the charge to break up AT&T into the "Baby Bells."

In short, this kid of the 70s learned that monopolies are bad, and that corporations had to be overseen with a watchful eye, because greed always leads to bad things. A kid from the 80s, 90s and 2000s might not see that at all. Virtually every corporate category has experienced virtually unfettered consolidation and mergers. Here in Las Vegas for example, almost all of the major resorts on the strip are owned by one of two companies, Harrah's Entertainment and MGM/Mirage.

Curiously, the Bush Administration, and the regulating agencies it heads seem to want to return to the corporate climate of over 100 years ago. Do they forget that it was Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican icon, who was championed as a "Trust Buster?"

[Excerpt]

PBS' Moyers on planned media consolidation rule change: FCC/industry 'revolving door' moves to further give away your airwaves

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was heavily criticized by members of the public, along with his colleagues, at the sixth and final public hearing, held on November 9, 2007, on his planned changes to rules on media consolidation.

Input from the public, leading up to the vote, is being accepted until December 11, 2007.
Attendees were heavily suspicious of the short notice given, five business days, as a tactic to prevent more of the public from learning about the hearings, as well as being able to attend and provide input in an already short time window before the commission's vote takes place. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Media Consolidation Plan Blocked

Media consolidation is, in my view, an enormously bad thing for America. Having just a few companies own the vast majority of the media causes a sameness to the news that is most disquieting. Think about it for a minute. If you turn on any of the cable news programs, from Hannity & Colmes, to Live with Dan Abrams, to The Situation Room, and you will see--for the most part--the same set of stories on any given day. Countdown with Keith Olbermann is alone in the wilderness, in reporting and commenting on news stories the others aren't touching. Kudos to Keith for carving out a niche.

But somehow, all the newspapers and news shows seem to agree on what is newsworthy, and very little else gets through. That, I believe, is because most of the media is controlled by 5 or 6 companies. And now the FCC is trying to loosen the rules to allow even more consolidation. Thankfully, a couple more Democratic Senators have found their cojones, and are trying to stop it.

[Excerpt]

US senators threaten to block media ownership plan

Two U.S. senators on Wednesday threatened to introduce bipartisan legislation that would block the U.S. Federal Communication Commission from acting quickly to ease rules governing media ownership.

Sens. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, and Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said they were studying possible legislation that would nullify an FCC decision expected on Dec. 18.

"I would expect those of us who feel strongly that this is the wrong approach will attempt to find a way to block an action that we think is inappropriate," Dorgan told reporters at a press conference.

Read the whole story at: Reuters.com