GRADE  THE  NEWS

Late in 1926 “three pioneers in mass communications”: Radio Corporation of America (RCA), American Telephone and Telegraph (A&T), and Westinghouse Electric Corporation, joined together to create the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (2013, Erickson). This new venture, founded in New York, was the U.S.’s first major broadcast network (2009, Fletcher). Originally two separate networks were formed. Red focused on entertainment and music, it was the “stronger of the stations and had better programming”; Blue carried news and “programming with less popular appeal” (2011, Pierce). “The formation of NBC was orchestrated by David Sarnoff, who became the network’s sole owner in 1930” (2013, Erickson). “In 1939, the Federal Communications Commission ordered RCA to spin of NBC entirely; RCA, instead sold off the Blue Network […] it would eventually become the American Broadcasting Company, (ABC) (2009, Fletcher). “The company minted the first TV star in comedian Milton Berle, whose Texaco Star Theater became a hit in 1948” (2009, Fletcher). However, the popularity of NBC started to run cold, “local affiliates were defecting to competitors CBS and ABC, which were proving deft at luring away younger audiences” (2009, Fletcher).  “Despite the success of such programs as The Howdy Doody Show and Kraft Television Theatre, NBC television perennially ran second in the ratings to CBS” (2013, Erickson). “The network also broke new creative ground with the comedy and variety series Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in and Saturday Night Live (2013, Erickson). However, “the mid-1980s found the network regaining its game, debuting The Cosby Show in 1984, followed by hits like The Golden Girls and Miami Vice in 1985. It rode that wave of success well into the 1990s, when the network's famed Must-See TV bloc on Thursday nights, anchored by the smash hits Friends and Seinfeld, made NBC dominant in the ratings anew” (2009, Fletcher). In 2004, NBC Universal was formed after NBC merged with Vivendi Universal Entertainment (Media Biz).

 

 

Who owns them now?

In 2013, the Comcast Corporation became the owner of NBC Universal. (2014, Wolff). This means that “the nation's largest cable company and residential Internet service provider and one of the world's biggest producers of TV shows and motion pictures” would merge together (Free Press).

 

How many are owned by the same parent company? Independently owned?

Comcast is now one of the six biggest media corporations owning NBC Universal, USA Network, Comcast Sports, Hulu, Fandango, Universal Studios (Florida and Hollywood), and so many others (Free Press).

 

What is their annual revenue and where do they get it?

With all these networks it is no wonder their annual revenue has been increasing. In 2010, their annual revenue topped at just 37.9 billion but only two years later, in 2012, their revenue has almost doubled: 62.6 billion (Comcast Annual Report). During the year of 201, most of Comcast’s revenue comes from Cable Communications, followed by Cable Networks, Broadcast Television, Filmed Entertainment, and Theme Parks respectively (Comcast Annual Report).

 

What is their reader/viewer share?

In 2005, NBC became the news show to watch, scooping its competitor CBS’s Evening News. The average viewers for NBC are 9.92 million, versus the 8.27 for ABC and 6.45 million for CBS (2010, Carter).

 

 

Was there a story that made this news venue popular?

During the 2005 Hurricane season, Brian Williams made his mark on Nightly News. Bill Carter of the New York Times said, “His presence in New Orleans from the start of the story, as well as his authoritative, frequently passionate reporting on the toll of the disaster, had colleagues, competitors and outside analysts suggesting that the hurricane story may have provided him a defining moment as a network reporter and anchor (2005).

 

 

Was there a story that this news venue is particular well known for scooping?

In 2007, just after the Virginia Tech Shooting, NBC received a package from the shooter. “The unexpected package from Cho Seung Hui that arrived at NBC News contained both a worldwide scoop and a journalistic dilemma” (2007, Kurtz). The package included photographs and videos (2007, Johnson).  Although the package posed a problem for the network, “I knew it was going to be a problem as soon as it landed in my hands,” said Mike Orlan, NBC News’ manager of print and distribution services. (2007, Johnson), it did provide them a scoop on the other news channels.

 

 

How does the site frame itself? How is it perceived?

They pride themselves on being “America’s most watched evening newscast for over a decade” and “America's broadcast news leader with national and international coverage”( 2013, Fung). Williams has said that he “considers himself a mainstream conservative Republican” (2013, Baker). However, NBC is often compared to its ‘sister-station’ MSNBC which has been reportedly thought of as Liberal. According to Pew Research, NBC’s audiences tend to lean left (2014, Engel). In the Research survey, 37% used NBC News in a typical week. It showed that “conservatives are somewhat underrepresented in its audience” (2014, Engel).