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General Electric enigmatically announced it would decide the fate of its entertainment unit, NBC Universal, after the Beijing Olympics, reports the Financial Times (via MarketingVOX).
NBC’s value is currently estimated at $40 billion. And while its performance has reportedly lagged, the label makes continuous headlines with myriad purchases (the most recent being Sparrowhawk Media and Oxygen), involvement in the “mystery site” Hulu, and attempts to turn ads into entertainment.
NBCU also holds exclusive broadcast and video rights for the 2008 Olympic Games.
GE currently holds an 80 percent stake in NBC. This Friday the firm will report its Q3 earnings.
French media group Vivendi holds the other 20 percent of NBC. It is not expected to act as either a long-term shareholder or a potential buyer.
NBC U chief Jeff Zucker told the Financial Times that the recent acquisitions of the cable groups underlined GE’s commitment. “It’s about performance, and if NBC Universal is performing, I think we’ll be here for a long time,” he is quoted as saying.
Though off-air online and experiential advertising grew modestly as a part of the overall radio revenue pie, and election-related political ads increased in Q3, total radio ad revenues were down 9% to $4.97 billion for Q3 and down 10% for…
Glamour magazine is running its photo of Britney Spears not only on the cover of the U.S. edition, but on the covers in seven other countries, as well.
Britney will grace Russia, Sweden and Greece’s editions of Glamour, among others.…
Titan Worldwide has signed a five-year deal with the Delaware River Port Authority to manage out-of-home advertising for the Port Authority Transit corp.
The contract covers advertising on PATCO’s rail service and stations between Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, writes …
Publicis has acquired full-service agency W&K Communications, continuing its Asia expansion that began several years ago.
W&K will be pulled under the umbrella of Publicis’s Burnett agency network, and will be renamed Leo Burnett Beijing Advertising, writes Adweek.
Other recent Publicis…
With only four weeks separating Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, Cyber Monday One (December 1) and Cyber Monday Two (December 
may command a greater share of online sales than they have in years past - thus increasing the importance…
Top American non-luxury auto brands received higher ratings and less negative comments from online consumers than competing Japanese brands, according to an analysis of consumer opinions collected from automotive review websites by Biz360, MarketingCharts reports.
The research, which aggregated a year’s…
