Posts Tagged ‘Jeff Zucker’

When outgoing NBCU chief Jeff Zucker was asked about the controversial moves his, and other networks have made the last few years of putting TV programming on the Web, therefore potentially hurting the syndication market, Zucker joked, “Can we go back to the Keith Olbermann question?”

Speaking before a roomful of program buyers, sellers and producers at the annual NATPE gathering in Miami Beach, Zucker stood up for NBCU’s partnership in video platform Hulu. “I’m incredibly proud of what Hulu has done,” said Zucker. (With Comcast gaining majority control of NBCU this Friday, the company’s management stake in Hulu will go away.)

As for the Olbermann joke, Zucker was referencing the first question he’d gotten during the Q&A about the MSNBC host’s abrupt departure from the network Friday night — a question he could not comment on.

“Online is still a better experience for us than the DVR. We can control the ad inventory and the ad load,” said Zucker. “The consumer has made it clear that they want to enjoy it this way. If we don’t listen to the consumer, piracy will take over as we saw happen in the music industry.”

Zucker also reiterated his support of the TV Everywhere concept, a favorite of Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. And he predicted mobile will be the go-to place for growth in program viewing the near term.

• Related: SportsNewser – How Important is the NFL to NBC? “I shudder to think about NBC without it.”

Valleywag’s Ryan Tate has the wrap on last night’s Founder’s Club Internet Week bash here in New York:

There were so many old-media bigwigs at the Internet Week event, it’s surprising there were any admission badges left for Web startups. Bonnie Fuller, Jeff Zucker, Steven Brill and Jimmy Fallon joined Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller. Myspace’s Jon Miller and AOL’s Tim Armstrong represented the new blood. There was enough space left over for a substantial contingent of New York Web entrepreneurs; the rope-line squeeze might have erupted into a media war had more of Silicon Valley turned up for Gotham’s promotional festivities.

Gawker’s Nick Denton, Mahalo’s (and formerly Weblogs, Inc.’s) Jason Calacanis and Business Insider’s Henry Blodget.

Our boss was there too, Tweeting away…

The NYTimes’ Brian Stelter Tweets:

• FLASH: The CEO and COO of AOL are out; Tim Armstrong of Google is in as chairman and CEO.

Marketwatch.com has more:

Time Warner Inc. said late Thursday it named Google Inc
Senior Vice President Tim Armstrong as Chairman and Chief Executive of Time Warner’s AOL unit. AOL’s current Chairman and CEO Randy Falco along with President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Grant plan to leave the company after a transition period.

Falco was named chairman and CEO of AOL in November, 2006 after spending more than 30 years at NBC in various capacities, last as president and COO of NBC’s television group. He left the company a few months after Jeff Zucker was given the reins of NBCU, succeeding CEO Bob Wright.

NBC Universal plans to cut $500 million from its 2009 budget, FierceMobileContent reports, in what is billed as the first major cut by a U.S. media giant in the face of a rapidly shrinking economy.

“We are living in a time of unprecedented economic challenges,” writes NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker in a company memo mailed Friday. “It has become evident that the decline in consumer confidence and spending will impact our operations.”

This will likely turn out to be the first real test of how well mobile media initiatives hold up in the face of budget pressure, as NBC Universal has one of the most robust mobile divisions in existence in a media company at present (at least in the U.S.).