TVSquad

Every week we can be guaranteed that Tina Fey and the people at 30 Rock will make fun of NBC in some way, whether it's product placement or The Jay Leno Show or last night's line about the green NBC peacock in the corner of the screen. Fey also isn't shy about dumping on NBC when she's away from the show either.

The other night she gave a speech at an Ad Council meeting at the Waldorf in New York. Her barbs were mostly about NBC's ratings, including pointing out that "NBC is sadly the fourth-place network. Actually we're in ninth place if you count the radio stations ahead of us right now." She also suggested that if the 1200 people in the audience watched NBC for just one night there would be a huge jump in the ratings.

I've been wondering what will happen if and when Comcast takes over NBC. Will they still have the HQ at 30 Rock? Will the show still be called 30 Rock? Fey suggested a new title: Industrial Park on the Schuyikill River.

There are very few sure fire signs that a network is completely worthless and this is one of them.

Comcast has been looking to buy the financially troubled NBC from General Electric, but Wall Street insiders say the deal won't be good for Comcast's stock.

Even confirmed reports of a takeover bid can't save the network in the eyes of the almighty stockholder. What would make NBC more profitable in Wall Street's eyes?

According to the New York Times, Comcast is set to own NBC Universal and all channels that are part of it as early as next week.

This could change the entire television landscape and pretty much give us less of a selection in terms of entertainment. The rumor is that Comcast is going to keep the cable channels, then sell the NBC network. News Corporation expressed interest in the property, but the Comcast talks progressed along far enough to eliminate other potential buyers. It could be argued that having MSNBC partially owned by the same owners of Fox News is a bit of a conflict of interest.

Who would step forward to buy NBC network? The ratings haven't been great and they did do that silly thing with Jay Leno and their 10 p.m. slot. NBC is too much of a name brand to let fall by the wayside. Who do you think should step up and buy the network?

Yesterday, rumors were flying after an Los Angeles Times report said that Comcast was in negotiations to buy NBC. But then The New York Times reported late last night that both sides denied that any negotiations were going on between the two companies. This morning, things are a little... murkier.

Mediabistro got hold of an e-mail that NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker sent to employees. It's a long e-mail, but nowhere in it does he say that the rumors of Comcast (or anyone else) buying NBC are untrue.

You've seen the commercial below. It's a Comcast ad that takes on Verizon FIOS by saying that FIOS costs more, doesn't have as much HD as Comcast, and is filled with too many lame videos.

Last night I watched the commercial again (for the 4000th time) and I noticed that they've changed the ending. The FIOS guy used to say "I'm going to write down your credit card number which I memorized when I was looking..." I always thought that was an odd line, pretty much insinuating that a Verizon rep would take someone's credit card number like that. But they've now taken that line out and replaced it with something else (though the new line escapes me at the moment - anyone?). I wonder if Verizon complained?

I know it puts me in the minority, but I've always loved TV commercials. Sure, the bad ones are bad, but the good ones are art. The Clio Awards (for excellence in advertising) last week, and here's the list of winners. After the jump, some highlights from various categories.

I cover the night shift at TV Squad, which means I edit and schedule posts in the blogging queue from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. I actually like the quiet time to work, since my household is pretty noisy during the day.

But one thing that gets me through the night is Chelsea Lately, the late night talk show featuring comedian Chelsea Handler and her little nugget Chuy. In my neck of the woods, her show airs at 3 and 3:30 a.m., just the exact moment I need a boost to carry me through to morning.

So I was pretty excited to read that Chelsea's inked a shiny new deal with Comcast Entertainment Group. The agreement includes continuing to exec produce and star in her E! show, Chelsea Lately, through 2012. She's also establishing a new company, Borderline Amazing Productions, which will have a first-look deal with Comcast's cable networks.

So you've probably heard about the 30 seconds of porn (video is unbelievably NSFW. You will be fired and embarrassed if you watch this video. Please don't show to your parents, kids, or clergy. Warning! Graphic!) that many Tucson residents saw during the Super Bowl. And if you lived in the area and actually saw it, you might be getting some money from Comcast.

The cable company has decided to pay ten dollars to each person who was "affected" by the showing of porn during the game. I have no idea how you're supposed to prove you saw it or even what "affected" means. Annoyed? Ticked off? Embarrassed for your family? Aroused? Did it make you want to strangle a puppy? Comcast, the nudity you showed on Super Bowl Sunday made me rethink my career path. I want my ten dollars!

Comcast is still investigating what exactly happened, but they're pretty sure it was done by someone on purpose. Only people who didn't watch the game in HD actually saw it, which is a great ad for HDTV. Not sure if the spokesperson for the company helps by using the words "aggressively pursue" and "come to a resolution" in the statement.

Everyone, I need your attention! I am about to do something that rarely pops up in my life and, I'm guessing, in yours as well. It might be a little shocking, so I want to make sure that you're near a chair. Deep breath, here it goes...

I want to thank my cable provider. I'll wait until you can sit down. Need a drink of water? Breath of fresh air?

I'm being serious here! I know that it's rare that someone publicly thanks the utility that sucks their money away and provides little if any variety, but I think this time it's merited. You see, for years now the networks have been lacking a very important series of programs that are important to the proper education of our youth. I speak about Looney Tunes cartoons.

It's approaching midnight, it's in the single digits outside, and I really don't feel like watching regular TV right now. I feel like having something on while I get under the covers and read. Time for the Yule Log!

This season (Jay reviewed one a couple of years ago), Comcast, Cox, Time-Warner, and Bright House all have the Yule Log on their On Demand service (via iN Demand). It's that scene of a crackling fireplace to get you in the Christmas mood. It's especially good if you don't have a fireplace of your own (duh), and it's in HD! I have Comcast digital, and to access it, go to your On Demand menu, then scroll down to HD On Demand, then go to TV Entertainment. You'll see a "Yule Log & More" category (not sure how to get to the section on other cable systems - maybe it's the same?).

But wait, there's more...

Um....OK, so I just turned on MSNBC to get the latest news and I get a notice on the screen that says this.

NOT AUTHORIZED
To order MSNBC service on channel 114, call 1-800....

What the hell? So I go to channel 114 and it has the same message. At first I thought it was one of those temporary glitches that sometimes happen to cable systems (in this case, Comcast), but then I read this over at TV Newser. Seems that Comcast is starting to drop MSNBC from its basic package in many areas and putting it in the digital package. They're doing it in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Connecticut, and now it looks like it is affecting Massachusetts, too. Anyone else out there not have MSNBC?

I think we pay approximately $4000 a month for cable and we have a digital package, so I would hope MSNBC would be covered (especially since CNN and FOX News are there). I'm going to get my paperwork and find out why this move isn't included in it. This isn't even remotely Comcastic.

I'm going to hazard the guess that if you are a regular visitor to TV Squad that you, like me, probably watch more television than the average bear. Partly out of good old fashioned curiosity, and partly because I'm paying for all of those channels so I might as well use them, I make it a point to cover as much of my cable TV package as I can when time allows. Doing so, you end up finding some odd and interesting things. After the jump, five things I've learned from my cable TV over the last week or so.

Comcast, Cox, and TiVo have been working on deploying TiVo software on cable company hardware for well over a year now. But while the original goal was to let cable operators flip a switch and automatically send the TiVo software to a customer's box, the reality has been a bit trickier. For the most part, if you've been one of the lucky few people who even had access to Comcast's TiVo service, you probably had to wait for a guy in a truck to roll up to your house and work some magic.

But now TiVo CEO Tom Rogers says the days of auto-flip activation are nearly upon us. This feature will make it much less expensive for cable operators to deploy the TiVo service, which means it's likely we'll see the service expand beyond its current test markets in New England.

[via Gizmo Lovers]

Comcast-owned internet media portal Fancast is expanding its content library through a partnership with Viacom. The upshot is that for the first time, you'll be able to catch full length episodes of two of Comedy Central's most popular shows: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. While you can currently find clips of each show on the program's website, there's no way to watch a single episode from start to finish over the web.

Fancast will also be adding South Park and select content from other Viacom properties including MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, and BET Networks. You can already find a wide range of TV shows and movies on Fancast thanks to partnerships with CBS and Hulu.

I know, I know, we've all heard those words before. It seems that every other show that gets canceled these days has a "could it come back on another network?" addendum, a glimmer of hope that somehow, some way, a show that had a small but loyal following will actually survive. Unfortunately, 9.9 times out of 10 it doesn't happen.

But it could happen to Jericho. According to Brian Stelter at The New York Times, CBS/Paramount execs have been having secret talks with Comcast (yes, Comcast) about doing something with the show for a third season. Now, this might seem like an odd, desperate play for another season if it wasn't for the fact that NBC has already done something very similar to this with DirecTV, twice. First they had a deal with the satellite provider to air Passions, but that was a big bust (sorry, Passions fans), but they have a new deal to air another season of Friday Night Lights. The new season will start airing on DirecTV in October, and then repeats will air on NBC in early 2009.