nbc

Don't miss Patton Oswalt's hilarious ideas for 'Star Wars: Episode VII'

On Thursday's episode of the NBC comedy "Parks and Recreation," jokesmith Patton Oswalt made a brief appearance as a filibustering fool attempting to block a city council vote. According to the network, producers asked Oswalt to ramble about any subject during the skit, but what they got in return might be one of most zany and geeky "Star Wars: Episode VII" plot ideas ever heard.… Read more

Comcast scoops up rest of NBC Universal from GE

Comcast now owns all of NBC Universal.

The cable company shared the news in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, revealing that it completed its acquisition of the 49 percent of NBCU held by GE.

To finance the purchase, Comcast said it spent $10 billion in cash (of which $3.2 billion came from NBCU), $725 million in preferred stock, $4 billion in securities, $750 million in cash funded through a commercial paper program, and $1.25 billion in cash from NBCU's credit facility.

Comcast also announced that it now owns certain properties at NBCU's … Read more

NBC Web site back up after hack attack

NBC's Web site is up and running again after being knocked offline by a cyberattack for several hours yesterday.

The NBC site was the victim of a form of malware known as the Citadel Trojan. This specific strain targets companies in an attempt to steal usernames, passwords and other sensitive data. People who visit sites infected by the trojan can find their own PCs infected as well.

In the past, Citadel typically attacked banks and financial firms but has since expanded its reach to a wider range of organizations.

NBC, which is part of cable giant Comcast, is still trying to figure out how the attack occurred, … Read more

Facebook blocks NBC site after reported hack

It seems Facebook is blocking links to NBC.com after the TV network's site was compromised earlier today.

Some Facebook users trying to share URLs from NBC.com are running into an error message explaining that the feature isn't available at the moment. "An error occurred while processing this request. Please try again later," the message reads. The message pops up when posting from www.nbc.com. If you try to click on a link, another message pops up: "This link has been reported as abusive."

We've contacted Facebook and NBC for comment … Read more

Comcast to buy GE's stake in NBC for $16.7 billion

Comcast Corp. is going to buy all of General Electric's remaining stake in NBCUniversal for $16.7 billion, the cable giant announced today.

NBCUniversal will also buy its facilities at 30 Rockerfeller Plaza and CNBC's headquarters in New Jersey for $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to go through by the end of March.

Comcast already owns 51 percent of NBCUniversal since its purchase of the majority stake from GE went through in 2011. Comcast is the largest cable provider in the U.S.

Today's announcement comes well before the agreed deadline for Comcast to buy … Read more

Dish declares the death of commercials -- in a commercial

Dish is taking its digital video recorder, the Hopper, national today, and it's doing it with an ad that declares the death of TV advertisements.

The campaign is just the latest salvo in a fight between Dish and the major broadcast networks, including CBS, the parent company of CNET. Dish and the broadcasters are tussling over the legality of the Hopper's automated ad-skipping technology, which the networks believe threaten a business model heavily dependent upon commercials for revenue.

Dish said it now offers the Hopper's service nationwide and to promote its news, the company has launched, ironically, … Read more

NBC deems EveryBlock a dead end, turns off news service

NBC shut down its hyperlocal news site EveryBlock -- a data-driven platform that let users search for news based on where they live -- because the site wasn't doing well as a business.

EveryBlock, once heralded as an innovative approach to media, said its final good-bye to its users in a blog post on the now dark site:

It's no secret that the news industry is in the midst of a massive change. Within the world of neighborhood news there's an exciting pace of innovation yet increasing challenges to building a profitable business. Though EveryBlock has been … Read more

An open letter to Tina Fey regarding Twitter

In a recent video clip posted on NBC's Web site, epic funny woman Tina Fey ranted against the banality of Twitter, declaring that users should be required to apply to her for a license to tweet (scroll down to watch the whole video).

I'm a fan of literally everything Tina Fey has ever done, and the fact that she is apparently so completely wrong about Twitter is threatening the very fabric of my universe. So I drafted this open letter to Ms. Fey in an attempt to reestablish an essential balance in the world. … Read more

Hulu chief asks bosses for $200M in funding -- WSJ

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has asked his corporate overlords for twice as much cash as last year to fund the company's growth strategy, a new report claims.

Kilar has petitioned Hulu owners Walt Disney, Comcast, and News Corp. for $200 million for 2013 to be used for acquiring more programming and expanding the company's reach around the world, the Wall Street Journal is reporting today, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the talks. Last year, Kilar asked for about half of that figure.

According to the Journal's sources, a decision hasn't been made yet … Read more