NBC's Zucker - "Whatever It Takes To Put On The Best TV"

At a Paley Center Event last week NBC CEO Jeff Zucker sat down for a Q & A with CNBC's Erin Burnett. One of first subject that Burnett brought up was the impending takeover by Comcast. Zucker stated that Comcast was assessing the strength of their assets and that over 75 percent of NBCU's profits come from its cable networks. This certainly isn't surprising considering the state of the NBC's broadcast shows over the past few years; however, it's still a shockingly high number that doesn't bode well for broadcast television.

When asked about The Jay Leno Show, Zucker attempted to stress that they're doing "whatever it takes to put on the best television...[and] quality content wins out". It seems to me that Zucker is just trying to cover up his previous statements to the press that put the emphasis on how cheap Leno's show is to produced rather than that it's quality television.

Zucker also confirmed that NBC is interested in FOX's push for retransmission fees, but that he expects it to be three or four years before that would become a viable business model. This is a step in the right direction, but the retransmission fees wouldn't be so important if NBC was able to actually produce shows that people want to watch. Even Zucker echoed that sentiment at the end of the Q &A when he said that "we've probably gotta do a better job... at being smarter" in primetime.