NBCU

Comcast execs say that there’s a lot of life left in traditional TV advertising, and in the expanded basic pay TV bundle, even in a time of growing cord cutting and shaving. The scatter market is “as strong as it’s been at any time in recent memory,” says NBCU chief Steve Burke. There’s “nothing to worry about” from automakers, usually the biggest buyers, giving him “reasons to be optimistic about the trajectory for the upfront” sales market in the spring.

If Nielsen isn’t going to do a good enough job accurately measuring TV to satisfy NBCUniversal, the conglomerate isn’t about to stand idly by. That’s the word from Linda Yaccarino, chairman of ad sales and client partnerships, who on Thursday issued a call to action for the entire industry to make their frustrations known. “It’s unfair to marketers, it’s unfair to content creators, and it’s up to all of us in this industry to take a stand,” said Yaccarino. “We need to reach beyond a C3 rating.”

Two years after it began transacting all of its advertising under a single, companywide portfolio, NBCUniversal has unveiled another major reorganization of its ad sales teams. In the changes, which Linda Yaccarino announced to her staff today, NBCU’s chairman of ad sales and client partnerships is merging the linear and digital advertising sales teams. Those teams will now be embedded together in the company’s agency-focused lifestyle, news, Hispanic, entertainment and sports content groups.

NBCUniversal will run 13-minute highlight vignettes of the next installment of Lionsgate’s Hunger Games franchise across many of its networks, the latest example of how many media companies are choosing to run advertiser-backed content in a bid to nab dollars from their sponsors.

Comcast EVP David Cohen says the bigger-than-expected results of the FCC’s AWS spectrum auction has NBCU — among many other broadcasters — considering participating in the upcoming incentive auction. However, that interest might be mitigated by uncertainty over how much spectrum will be needed to make a strong push to mobile devices.

NBCUniversal is preparing to launch a subscription digital comedy service aimed at millennial viewers who watch hours of entertainment on digital devices rather than the old-school TV. NBC’s proposed over-the-top service is expected to launch later this year, according to two executives familiar with the plans

In line with many prior FCC enforcement decisions, the FCC found EAS tone violations appealed by NBCU and Viacom to be “willful” on the grounds that it did not matter whether the parties transmitting the ads knew they were violating a law, only that they intended to air the ads, which neither party disputed. The FCC summed up its position by noting that it “has consistently held that ignorance or mistake of law are not exculpating or mitigating factors when assessing a forfeiture.”

NBCUniversal has taken the next step toward a data-driven future with the launch of an audience targeting platform for television. The platform will be fueled by set-top-box viewing data from “several” third-party sources, per a release. NBCUniversal declined to disclose which third-party data vendors it has partnered with for the platform.

Shapiro, who exited as president of the TV network Pivot last month, has been appointed EVP, digital enterprises at NBCUniversal. The newly created role will find Shapiro working on the company-wide strategic development of digital opportunities to reach emerging audiences, including alternative platforms and direct to consumer distribution models.

The win, after a formal review, expands the relationship between the WPP shop and Comcast-owned NBCU, which selected Maxus for traditional domestic media duties in 2011. The digital assignment will be handled out of Los Angeles and New York.

NBCUniversal is recognizing Earth Week with a new energy awareness campaign called Lights Off. Screens On., during its seventh annual Green Is Universal initiative.

Alison Moore, the former GM-EVP of Daily Candy and HBO exec, will will be responsible for NBCUniversal’s TV Everywhere initiative, and will work with Ron Lamprecht.

Hulu is padding its growing list of exclusive SVOD rights to primetime series. The streaming service announced Tuesday that previous seasons of Fox series The Mindy Project and Brooklyn Nine-Nine will be available only on Hulu Plus (and not rivals Netflix or Amazon Prime). In addition, a slew of series from NBC Universal-owned cable channels Bravo and E! will make backlogs of previous episodes from long-running series available only on Hulu Plus as well.

Local recommendations site DailyCandy and TV recap and review site Television Without Pity, two high-profile Internet content properties owned by NBCUniversal, are being shuttered, a move that management told staff Thursday morning would be occurring next week.

Sprout announced today the launch of Sprout NOW, giving subscribers access to its content anywhere, anytime, on any device. Now, preschoolers and their families will be able to access all […]

NBCUniversal forked over some $775 million for the media rights to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but if history is any guide, the network is all but certain to recoup the cost of its original investment. According to a new report from Kantar Media, NBCU could be on track to rake in around $1.05 billion in overall ad sales revenue, an estimate arrived at by multiplying the average cost of a 30-second spot in the 2002-10 Games ($95,500) by Kantar’s prediction that as many as 11,000 30-second units were carved out of the Sochi coverage.

AllThingsD editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, who are leaving News Corp. at the end of the year, completed a deal with NBCUniversal for a news and conference business that will bring their current staff to a newly named website, according to people familiar with the matter.

Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza is tapped to work with Joe Uva in the newly created post of vice president, community affairs, Hispanic enterprises and content.

After investing north of $600 million and over seven years into iVillage, NBC Universal has decided to fold its once-prized digital property into Today.com. The disbanding of iVillage comes roughly a year after NBCU shifted the female-focused property from the NBC Entertainment digital group to the NBC News Digital Group.

The longtime NBCU station exec and former GM of its Miami O&O WTVJ Miami will oversee the 16 owned Telemundo stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal says it has taken full control of Sprout, the pay TV channel for preschoolers that it had launched with joint venture partners PBS, […]

In a broad deal, NBCU set to chronicleone of the earliest commercial attempts to take private passengers into space using NBC, Syfy, CNBC and other networks. During a three-hour live event set to be televised next August on NBC’s Today, hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie will join viewers in monitoring Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and his adult children, Holly and Sam, as they travel aboard SpaceShipTwo from Virgin Galactic’s terminal at Spaceport America in New Mexico into space.

Matt Schnaars will oversee the distribution of NBCUniversal’s broadcast and cable content — including linear networks, regional sports networks, video on demand, and TV Everywhere — to cable, satellite and telco distributors.

Jennifer Karie today was named vice president, business affairs, NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution. Karie will continue to report to Inge Van Herle, SVP, business affairs, NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution. The […]

Its Telemundo Now mobile app and Web player make available full-length episodes of hundreds of programs on the Web, iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones and tablets to subscribers of participating cable, satellite and telco providers.

NBCUniversal will be kicking off its major marketing effort starting next week for its February Sochi Winter Olympics with a company-wide TV promotion. With its 20 broadcast/cable channels and 65-plus Web sites, NBC will offer a strong cross-promotional effort to reach audiences.

Among all TV content companies, NBCUniversal leads in the effort when it comes to second-screen “TV Everywhere” efforts, providing more channels than any other premium or basic cable TV group. A report from market researcher IHS, says NBC provides 15 video-on demand channels to “TV Everywhere” initiatives.

Are Comcast’s cable business and its NBCUniversal entertainment unit on the same page when it comes to the Aereo legal battle? That’s a question worth asking in the wake of Friday’s petition by major broadcasters seeking a Supreme Court review of the case over the online TV-streaming service.

Lauren Zalaznick, who has been primarily responsible for the network’s growth into new digital arenas, is leaving the company, but will still consult on some projects. There is speculation that Zalaznick is being tapped for Yahoo’s media unit.

Writers from Saturday Night Live, Late Night, 30 Rock and a slew of other NBCUniversal shows sent a letter to NBCU President Steve Burke asking him to allow writers at the company’s Peacock Productions to unionize.

NBC Universal on Saturday begins the first season of its three-year, $250 million deal to carry games from England’s Premier League.