December 1, 2005

NBC President says it's still about must-see TV

NBC Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker spoke recently to a Medill audience about the future of network television. In his talk, he described new distribution modes the company is trying, such as downloading shows onto an iPod or buying past episodes through DIRECTV.

And while technological advances are already paying off — “NBC Nightly News” ratings spiked when daily newscasts were placed on its Web site — Zucker maintained that good new shows are key to its prime-time revival. In making his point, he singled out the strong performances of two new comedies: “The Office” and “My Name is Earl.”

Hear Zucker’s complete talk online at www.northwestern.edu/shared/cms/bin/speaker/2005/11/zucker.mp3.