{"id":1300,"date":"2018-09-27T20:26:32","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T20:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uoesterl.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2018-09-27T20:26:32","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T20:26:32","slug":"it-takes-a-media-village-nbcuniversal-domestic-television-distribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uoesterl.expressions.syr.edu\/?p=1300","title":{"rendered":"It Takes a (Media) Village – NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution<\/a> (which will subsequently be referred to as NBCDTD) is a branch of NBCUniversal, a media company owned by corporate giant Comcast<\/a> (Brodkin, 2018).\u00a0 NBCDTD, specifically, develops, produces and distributes NBCUniversal<\/a> products to broadcast television stations in the US (NBCUniversal, 2018).\u00a0 They focus on creating and distributing shows, as well as distributing off-network programs (NBCUniversal, 2018), or shows that no longer run on primetime and are made available to local stations, cable operators, or online streaming services (Danesi, 2009).<\/p>\n

NBCUniversal Media as a whole has 62,000 employees, with NBCDTD being one of the biggest arms of transmitting content in the United States (Bloomberg, 2018).\u00a0NBCDTD is headquartered<\/a> in New York City; however, a lot of the content in produces occurs in Los Angeles (Bloomberg, 2018)(NBCUniversal, 2018). \u00a0In 2013, Ed Swindler of NBC Broadcasting took over the duties<\/a> to oversee NBCDTD from Barry Wallach, the previous head (Block, 2013). \u00a0However, in 2016, Swindler decided to step down after corporate reorganization, and no successor was appointed. \u00a0Instead, NBCDTD was assigned<\/a> to both Paul Telegdy, president of alternative\/reality shows at NBC Entertainment<\/a>, and George Cheeks, president of late night programming (Lafayette, 2016).<\/p>\n

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George Cheeks (left) and Paul Telegdy (right) were tasked with overseeing NBCDTD after Ed Swindler’s departure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NBCDTD\u2019s most important assets in making money are its talent and programs under contract.\u00a0 Among the first-run shows produced by NBCDTD are STEVE<\/em><\/a>, Harry<\/em><\/a>, The Jerry Springer Show<\/a>,<\/em>and Access<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(NBCUniversal, 2018). Another major source of NBCDTD\u2019s assets are syndicated programs that appear off-network (TV Program Production and Distribution<\/em>, 2018).\u00a0 These shows run in repeats on other stations and gather more revenue. \u00a0American Ninja Warrior<\/em><\/a>, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit<\/em><\/a>, Law and Order: Criminal Intent<\/em><\/a>, and Dateline<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>are a few of NBCDTD\u2019s off-network programs (NBCUniversal, 2018).<\/p>\n

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NBCDTD rewarded “STEVE” with a second season earlier this year<\/a>, giving host Steve Harvey a chance to expand his creativity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arguably the most important assets are the talent NBCDTD controls. \u00a0The talent currently under contract with the company includes Lester Holt, Hoda Kotb, Maury Povich and Steve Harvey (NBCUniversal, 2018). \u00a0These celebrities are so important they are often given considerable creative license to improve their own show. \u00a0For example, Steve Harvey’s newest deal<\/a> gave him significant ownership and creative control, particularly because\u00a0The Steve\u00a0Harvey Show<\/i>, his precursor to\u00a0STEVE<\/em>, was so popular (Littleton, 2016).<\/p>\n

As discussed above, NBCDTD\u2019s business model<\/a> is fairly simple.\u00a0 It produces, sells, and distributes NBCUniversal\u2019s products to broadcast TV in the US as well as off-network syndication (NBCUniversal, 2018).\u00a0 As a subsidiary of Comcast, its competitors include Disney<\/a>, FOX<\/a>, and other producers of broadcast television (Brodkin, 2018).\u00a0 However, going forward, NBCDTD will face significant business challenges regarding network competition.\u00a0 Whereas Comcast originally planned to buy FOX, the Disney-FOX buyout will put more pressure<\/a> on NBCDTD to produce content to compete (Brodkin, 2018).\u00a0 If it’s unable to keep up with the Disney-FOX giant, NBCDTD may lose revenue in the form of decreased syndication.<\/p>\n

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Disney’s $71.3 million buyout<\/a> of 21st Century FOX means Comcast and NBCDTD, will have to rethink the future.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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NBCDTD makes money from providing content to OTT services like Netflix for continued streaming capability.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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NBCDTD\u2019s supplier is its parent company, NBCUniversal.\u00a0 As the distribution division of the media giant, it focuses solely on providing NBC\u2019s products to broadcast, cable, and over-the-top (OTT) services (NBCUniversal, 2018).\u00a0 Since NBC is such a major network, it\u2019s able to develop in-house programming, which makes it especially difficult for smaller studios and production companies to get programming on broadcast television (TV Program Production and Distribution<\/em>, 2018).<\/p>\n

NBCDTD\u2019s biggest challenge is how to refine its revenue model in today\u2019s increasingly competitive media landscape.\u00a0 Since it has several different ways of putting content on screen, it has several different sources of revenue.\u00a0 The company starts by collecting affiliate fees<\/a> when it provides its programming to cable providers like DirecTV<\/a> and Spectrum<\/a> (Gurley, 2010).\u00a0 However, in NBCDTD\u2019s case, it differs slightly from other production and distribution companies.\u00a0 Since Comcast \u2013 a cable provider \u2013 owns NBCUniversal, it is able to keep affiliate fees low, and is the prime negotiator for other cable providers to get NBC programming (Gurley, 2010).<\/p>\n

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Since the older demographic prefers traditional television and the younger prefers streaming, NBCDTD is able to significantly profit in both areas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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NBCDTD is able to negotiate deals with online video providers as well to provide OTT programming (Brodkin, 2018).\u00a0 In fact, first-run programming on traditional TV providers often doesn\u2019t even recoup the costs of making a show (TV Program Production and Distribution<\/em>, 2018).\u00a0 Distribution companies have to rely on long-term syndication, DVDs, and deals with internet streaming services for long-term financial gain (TV Program Production and Distribution<\/em>, 2018).<\/p>\n

NBCDTD, aside from getting affiliate fees from cable providers, also licenses certain programs to other networks (NBCUniversal, 2018).\u00a0 Off-network programs are a major source of revenue for the company.\u00a0 For example, the debut of Dateline<\/em> in 2017 was sold by NBCDTD across 80% of the country.\u00a0Major station groups like FOX, COX Media Group and Sinclair purchased the rights to air the show on their stations (NBCUniversal, 2018).\u00a0 In this way, NBCDTD is able to make money on shows both on NBC and on other networks.<\/p>\n

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