Christmas TV ad spending up by £10m
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/27/advertising.television

Christmas TV ad spend has surged by over £10m this year, fuelled by a surge in last-minute ads from panicked retailers worried about a sales downturn during the festive season . This surge has been driven by retailers and the "interior furnishing" category – brands such as DFS – which have contributed a rise in spending on Christmas ads of about £5m.
Media agencies and broadcasters have attributed much of the overall December boost to "late money" on ads to get consumers shopping on the high street.

Therefore most television channels will benefit as retailers will be looking to advertise during popular shows such as X -Factor, which have high ratings. As retailers want to reach mass audiences quickly.
However if one retailer advertises during a certain show, it is likely that others will follow. The rest of the article also highlights that the best performer in TV ad revenues has been multichannel TV which would include channel 4 and ITV

News Values

I watched the BBC 6'O Clock news and the Channel 4 News at 7pm on Tuesday 18Th December.
BBC first 5 stories:
-New party leader elected for the Lib Dems (Nick Clegg)
-Alleged rape at a hotel where Man Utd players had their Xmas party
-Treasury has extended financial guarantees to Northern Rock
-Should fruit be shipped thousands of miles to supermarkets?
-Immigrant workers are keeping Britain afloat

Threshold- northern rock having continuous problems, people withdrawing all their savings and they are currently looking for a new buyer. Also the new Lib Dem leader being elected. As they would have the job of persuading the nation in voting for them in the next election.
Continuity - The northern Rock and Lib Dem election
Meaningfulness- The northern rock story involves government issues and people may have lost money

Channel 4 first 5 stories:
-Northern Rock taxpayers exposed
-New lib dem leader elected
- New president elected for South Africa
- BBC censors word from Christmas fairytale
- Amy Winehouse arrested

Reference to elite persons - new president elected for South Africa
Composition - Amy winehouse being arrested(celebrity news)
Threshold- northern rock having continuous problems, people withdrawing all their savings and they are currently looking for a new buyer. Also the new Lib Dem leader being elected. As they would have the job of persuading the nation in voting for them in the next election.
Continuity - The northern Rock and Lib Dem election

Virgin users hit by broadband crash
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/18/virginmedia.digitalmedia

Last night cable operator Virgin Media's broadband and Video On Demand services crashed, leaving an unspecified number of its 3.6 million customers temporarily without facilities including Internet access.
This problem occurred during routine maintenance, however only customers in the North West - Yorkshire and the midlands were affected. The majority of customers did regain their service shortly after midnight. But Virgin Media stated that it was difficult to estimate the number of people that were affected, partly because it depends on what time people were online.

Though this may have been a one off, it could occur again which would then cause customers to switch Internet provider. As it is Virgin media have tough competition with rivals such as Sky and BT.

Representations of Asians - med 4

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vFL0w1ruiCM
Typical Indian Parents
This clip is from Goodness Gracious Me, which is a comedy sketch show.
This is part of the stereotype where, Indian parents want their children to get top grades. In the clip the son gets A’s and a B, how ever the father is disappointed as this was in classical studies and the rest were in chemistry, biology etc.
He then compares his sons’ grades to someone else’s son; this is something that is done by some parents. He then talks about the 'B'damaging his pride in the community as someone else's son got better grades. yet again this re enforces the stereotype about Indian parents always wanting their children to get the top grades.

Channel 4 education focuses on web

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/11/channel4.digitalmedia

This article is about Channel 4 focusing on education for 14-19 year olds. As this project would be faced around social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo and Myspace and also blogs which would then invite people to share experiences and would later be made into a quarterly documentary.
New projects cover entrepreneurship, careers, media literacy, the transition form school to work and, later in 2008, political engagement and citizenship.
This project aims to tackle the motivation in education, this would be done by finding content that is entertaining and engaging as well as educational.
There would be a variety of projects appealing to different audiences..i.e. one project will encourage users to set up an online business.

As this is part of a £6million budget, channel 4 would try and cater for different interests as they are targeting a wide age group, and due to the 'educational crisis' - in which students are not being motivated to learn this would appeal to them, as most students do use social networking websites.
In addition Channel 4 are trying to move away from the cliched view of opening a business (as seen on Dragons Den), providing a collaborative environment for young entrepreneurs. Therefore Channel 4 are trying to create an interactive environment in which 14-19 year olds are able to learn about a variety of subjects and also take part in online activities.

Xbox to offer VoD service
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/04/digitalmedia.microsoft
Microsoft will allow gamers in the UK to buy films through its Xbox 360 console from next Tuesday, as the console moves to compete directly with everything from television to online download stores.
Films including the Matrix, the Harry Potter series and Ocean's 11 will be available after Xbox 360 becomes the first games console to offer a video-on-demand service, Live Marketplace Video Store, that will includes 40 popular film titles in standard and high definition in six countries
Users will have to pay between £2 and £4.50 for each film and users will then have two weeks to watch the film after the download.

Microsoft would be breaking into a new market and also this service would be extremely popular as 60% of Xbox console owners do go online and download games and music videos. As they also have family propositions this new service would also appeal to families..no other console has launched this service therefore this service may also appeal to people with other consoles such as PlayStation

Summary of.. Reception Theory

- No text has a simple meaning as audience are able to de-code texts in individual ways
- David Morely found that there were 3 types of reading...he looked at how different social groups read the same media text.
1. Dominant or hegemonic reading (preferred reading)
2. negotiated reading
3. Oppositional/counter hegemonic

- This theory often ignores the context of everyday life.

Summary of...Uses and Gratifications

- Assumes that the audience is active, choosing texts based on different reasons
- The audience also have a wide selection of programmes to choose from
- Blumler and Katz suggested four reasons.... Diversion, Personal identity, Personal relationships and Surveillance
- Denis McQuail made a detailed breakdown of audience motivation (above) i.e. entertainment, self education, seeking advice and relaxing
- Maslow (not a media theorist)... hierarchy of needs
- Richard Kilborn suggested reasons as to why people watch soaps... a regular routine and reward for work...identification with characters
- However this model can be to simplistic as we choose the media we consume from what is available

Summary of...Effects theory

- Assumes that the audience is passive
- Hypodermic needle model... to Inject the passive audience with ideologies.
- Promotes dominant ideologies
- Frankfurt School (propaganda)... concerned with the impact of the rise of the media industries on society
- Adorno ...Culture industry (dumbing the audience down)
- Althuser...Power of the state (ISA)
- Marcuse... 'indoctrinating & manipulating'
- Barthes... 'myths' (cultre)
- Moral panic -> Censorship as the moral majority seeing horror music and rap music as harmful
- Cultivation Theory... Audience is becoming desensitised
- Two Step Flow theory...assumes that the audience is more active and will discuss texts with each other

Uses and Gratifications & Me

-Blumer & Katz
* Diversion - Escape from everyday problems
i watch sitcoms such as Friends and scrubs as i don't particularly enjoy many soaps
* Personal relationships - Using the media for emotional and other interaction
i don't think this would apply to me because i don't relate to any characters
* Personal identity - Constructing their own identity from characters in media texts.
when watchin films or television programmes i sometimes understand where the charcter is coming from
* Surveillance - Information gathering i.e. weather reports
Read the newspaper and watch the news :)

-Denis McQuail
*Information - The news...newspaper...weather reports
*Learning - Watching different documentaries..channel 4 ones
*Personal identity - ermm.. does'nt really apply to me
* Integration and social interaction - same as above lol
*Entertainment - i enjoy watchin films..sitcoms i.e. friends! Heroes

Media Gurdian story

Broadcasters to launch joint VoD service
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/27/bbc.itv

BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 are to launch a Video On Demand service where customers would be able to watch more than 10,000 hours of TV programming. The title of the project is Kangaroo, it has been describes as "wanting to do for broadband what Freeview did for digital TV", will be a joint venture in which BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 have an equal share
The project aims to be a "rich entertainment site", where consumers can catch up with recently aired shows and older archive programming
The service will initially be available via the web, with shows available either streamed or to download

This article highlights the development of on demand video media in the UK. Channel 4 already has an 'on demand service' and with this joint venture, 4oD will merge later with Kangaroo.
One of the main competitors would be Sky as Sky customers are also able to record television programmes and watch at a later date.
With the increase of downloading, customers are also able to download with this service, something Sky has yet to offer.

Audience Profiling & Uses and Gratifications

Audience Profiling
Checkpoint 1: Demographic profiling is grouping the target audience in terms of age, class and gender. This is a simple way of defining an audience as it assumes that everyone within the group had the same attitudes.

Checkpoint 2: Psychographic profiling is categorising the audience in terms of needs and motivation, which is more effective for advertisers and publishers, as this enables consumers to be targeted directly.

Checkpoint 3: Niche nicknames are created because it is an easier way to define target audiences. i.e. YUPPIES(young upwardly mobile professionals)

Uses and Gratifications
Checkpoint 1: Four motivations Blumler and Katz suggested
* Diversion - Escape from everyday problems
* Personal relationships - Using the media for emotional and other interaction
* Personal identity - Constructing their own identity from characters in media texts.
* Surveillance - Information gathering i.e. weather reports

Checkpoint 2: Cultural codes is when different socio economic groups interpret texts in different ways.

Google launches YouTube ad scheme http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/19/googlethemedia.advertising
The article is about Google launching an advertising service for its partner network in the UK, this will allow targeted ads to run in YouTube videos. The new service is available to the thousands of websites that are signed up to Google's AdSense ad network. So Google Adsense partners are able to run video content from YouTube. They will be able to make money from banner and text ads that run around YouTube video clips. This would help to create a new revenue opportunity for publishers and content owners, and helps advertisers reach their target audiences in new and innovative ways

- Google are always trying to find new and innovative ways of advertising their brand. YouTube is a popular website and is widely used around the world. In addition many advertisers would want to advertise during certain videos as these would target their audience as nearly all age groups use YouTube and also an easy way to target a mass audience.

Effects theory

Checkpoint 1: The culture industry is the rise of media industries on society. It states that society controls almost everything including culture. The mass audience is manipulated by society (the ruling class) therefore the audience is less able to criticise what they have been shown as it has been commodified to fit the capitalist system.

Checkpoint 2: Desensitised is a term given by critics, when an audience is shown a text repeatedly they become less sensitive, as single exposure to the text would not have much effect. Also because of the change in social attitudes and expectations previously banned films are now broadcast some years later on television. However some people fail to understand why the film was banned in the first place, but shown later. It is because society has changed so much we are now able to accept what ever is shown in the film.

Lisa Opie

Job: managing director, content, Channel Five
Age: 47
Industry: broadcasting Annual programming
Budget: £230m
New entry
Ranking: 38


Lisa Opie was appointed last year to be the managing director at channel 5.
She was previously the executive vice president of Flextech - now known as Virgin Media Television.
As Managing Director, Flextech Television she was responsible for the creative and commercial management of the channels: Living TV; Living TV2; Bravo; Trouble; Challenge and Ftn. She was also a director on the board of UKTV

She helped launch Television Channel Trouble in 1997.
With recent problems at channel five( their lack of British drama, as the channel relies on US shows such as CSI and House) Lisa poached Neighbours from BBC1 for a reported £300million

Her channel was fined a record £300,000 by Ofcom after its daytime quiz Brainteaser faked the winners of a phone-in competition. It was one of a string of scandals surrounding TV phone-in quizzes

Five also had a lower market share than last year.

Sun rises for first time in four years


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/09/abcs.pressandpublishing
The article is about The Sun newspaper having an increase in circulation, this is partly due to the 20p price cut in London and the South East. The sold an average of over 3 million copies each day.
The Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Mail also enjoyed year-on-year increases - the latter due to a big push into home delivery. Also in the article it gives various statistics about different newspapers and their circulation increase or decrease. i.e. the Daily Mirror has the lowest circulation of the newspapers stated with just over 1million, whereas newspapers such as the Daily Star are beginning to see an increase

I think that this article highlights the rise and fall in newspapers, as since the growth of the Internet, newspapers have slowly declined and The Sun has managed to increase its circulation by using offers and also reducing its price in certain areas of the country to keep circulation figure at over 3million

marxist pluralist game

- The 21st Century audience has become more active(media illiterate) as there is now a diverse range of media to choose from and we have become more selective over what we watch.

-The ideas of diversity and selection are limited through media ownership, if institutions are in the hands of a single figure, the choice of media consumption is restricted. Furthermore, that ownership is in the hands of the elite - is that not hegemony?

-That 'wealthy elite' does not own the entire media. Audiences have many opinions. The media also provide what the audience want as otherwise their would not make any sales

-But influence is an important thing, especially when it is the 'wealthy elite' e.g. many teens will wear the same clothes their favourite celeb does.

-Yes they may do, but if their is a class division, the working lass people will not be able to afford to pay for clothes because the bourgeoisie - elite are constantly paying low wages to the proletariat - working class and therefore keeps them below them.

-Its not fair that their is a division in classes, people should not be discriminated against.

-There will always be 'wealthy elites' who have a lot of media ownership and social attitudes will stay bourgeoisie and proletariat.

Pluralism

In what ways do i agree with pluralism?

I do agree with Pluralism as the media is full of organisations competing with each other, also as an audience we are able to make decisions by ourselves as over time we have become more media illiterate..as we have become more selective over what we comsume.
An example is SKy and Tesco..who are offering broadband, Phone and Sky offers the TV package..unlimited channels. Also Tesco is one of the dominant supermarket stores..as they have Tesco metro, extra and express open in most places.
So both cater for the audience in similar ways.

Writers' strike begins to hit UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/nov/06/television2

A number of talk shows amongst other hit shows such as Heroes, Greys Anatomy and CSI could be affected by a strike by screenwriters, the last strike by screenwriters in 1988 lasted 22 weeks and cost the industry an estimated $500m
This latest dispute began after talks between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the Hollywood studios, collapsed on Sunday night. Late-night talk shows were first to be hit because they rely on topical scripts
Writers want higher fees, or "residuals", from work that is released on DVD or used online

The purpose of the strike is because writers want higher fees..They help write for the some of the top US shows such as Ugly Betty and CSI. This can also be seen an example of corporate greed, as large media organisations such as NBC and Paramount are not willing to pay writers more money.

Sky ad claims shot down
http://media.guardian.co.uk/bskyb/story/0,,2197686,00.html

The ASA has banned an advert by Sky which claims that new and existing customers will get equally good deals with the company.
However soon after being aired subscribers complained to ASA that the advert was misleading as the advert stated "We believe it's right that all our customers should enjoy consistently low prices across all our products."
But new Sky customers only had to pay £49 for Sky+ however existing customers would have to pay £159 to upgrade.
Sky said standard prices should be seen as distinct from special offers - which the company argued did not come under the scope of its claim in the ads - that run for limited periods of time.

I think that sky should have made clear the terms and conditions as they mislead their customers. Due to the advert Sky could have also lost customers to rival Virgin Media, who use standard prices for new customers. Because the advert is banned Sky will have to invest more money into another ad campaign advertising their services.

Marxism

Checkpoint 1: even though they are both social classes, Proletariat are the working class who sell their labour and do not own the means of production and Bourgeoisie are the people that own the production that employs the Proletariat (working class). Bourgeoisie can then be divided further; wealthy Bourgeoisie- who do not need to work for themselves and petty Bourgeoisie – who employ others but also work for themselves

Checkpoint 2: The ideological State Apparatuses (ISA) operate alongside the Repressive State Apparatuses (RSA) to maintain Bourgeoisie ideologies which include; Religion, Education, political system and family. The ISA pass down ideologies through learning so that audiences presume that these are correct

How much of a Marxist am i?
i believe the ideologies set by Marx.. as i think that our society is divided into two social classes. The bourgeoisie and the proletariat - who are being exploited by working for almost nothing. Also the media does play a part in it, as they are feeding us information which may not necessarily be true but because we are seeing it in this particular form we assume that it is true.

Roleplay

Bill: So whats the deal with globalisation..surely it can't be that big of a deal can it?

Ben: well it depends because global conglomerates are changing the face of the media and we should be aware of the changes that are happening and the issues they raise. Institutions such as AOL TimeWarner and Vivendi Universal are two of the largest, so that means that they are able to develop new media and genres as part of this new global culture.



Bill: oh i see.. so what about Rupert Murdoch, who owns a large stake of the media

Ben: well he's a prime example, because he owns a large stake he is able to select and repackage the information to suit his needs. i.e. his newspaper The Sun may only support a particular political party therefore his paper may only publish news stories that are in favour of the party. So he is using media to force his opions upon us.

Bill: Also the US have been known to monopolise the global information system, which is unfair on other nations who have less power, so currently there are only a few global news organisations

This article is about The Sun newspaper, reaching a combined audience of 22.2million in the last month through print, online and mobile media.

The sun are seeing a continuing growth in leadership, however over the past year the newspaper industry has been struggling

The Sun is the only paper that releases a combined audience figure across all platforms. Last month, the Sun cut its price to 20p in London and the south-east. The cut helped the red-top daily increase its circulation by 1.76% from August and kept its year-on-year decline to 0.1% - its best year-on-year figure for two years. Since last year their audience has increased by 2.7million

last month Sky, News of the World and The Sun jointly launched a mobile service

The Sun is beginning to establish itself as a successful newspaper. being available in different media forms Internet paper and mobile they are reaching different audiences. Therefore they will be increasing their readership every year. Recently the price of the newspaper has changed to 20p, so they are gaining new readers who may buy the paper because of the cheaper price compared to other papers.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2186440,00.html

This article is about BBC Worldwide launching an operation base in Mumbai, India. This is the third office that has opened and BBC Worldwide intend to open another 4 more offices. Poland, France and Latin America have already been identified as possible locations.

The office based in India will be called BBC Worldwide Productions India and will make local versions of BBC formats as well as creating new shows. The BBC already has an established distribution business in India, with local versions of The Weakest Link as well as operating three other channels: BBC World, CBeebies and BBC Entertainment.

This article is important because India is seen as an important TV market and is immensely fast growing, by making production bases in different countries it positions BBC Worldwide as a leading global network, as they aim to repeat the success they had with the office in Los Angeles.

This also enables India to make their own version of BBC factual, entertainment and lifestyle programmes.

Sony (founded in May 1946) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation and is one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue of $70.303 billion (as of 2007)

The slogan for Sony is.... Sony.Like no other

Their Headquarters are in Tokyo, Japan But have offices in the States.

Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video games and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.

U.S. Businesses
Sony Electronics Inc.

- Laptops

- Cameras

- TV & Home Entertainment

Sony Entertainment Inc.
Sony Pictures Entertainment

The television and film production/distribution unit, It is reported that group sales were $6.6 billion in 2005.

- Spiderman series

- Casino Royale was distributed by Sony Home Entertainment.

-The Da Vinci Code

- White chicks

- Bad Boys II

Sony BMG Music Entertainment is one of the Big Four music companies, and includes ownership and distribution of recording labels such as Arista Records, Columbia Records, Epic Records, J Records amongst others

Columbia artists include:

Alicia Keys

Beyonce

Epic

Jennifer Lopez

Shakira

Jive

Justin Timberlake

R Kelly

Sony Computer entertainment

Specialises in the video game industry, in particular game consoles - Playstation

Sony ericsson was established in 2001 and is a joint Venture Sony have with a Swedish telecoms company.

In 2006 sales of phones where 74 Million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2181039,00.html

This article is about BBC worldwide acquiring a 75% stake in Lonely Planet, which is a privately owned company and is also seen as a global leader in travel information.
The article also gives a brief history of the company and what they currently sell - guidebooks and phrasebooks in addition to producing TV shows for the Discovery channels
The article also states BBC Worldwide's ambition is to move from programming to a content business, and Lonely Planet was an ideal opportunity as BBC want to increase operations in America and Australia, therefore the founders of lonely planet are able to secure a long term future with the BBC as it will then help increase BBC Worldwide's travel output.

This article is important as it shows that the BBC Worldwide are 'broadening their horizons' by focusing on the travel sector. Therefore it also secures the future of the company within a globally recognised media group. By having BBC Worldwide funding they are they are able to explore other business ventures, which would make Lonely Planet more successful.

NBC and Amazon

After a dispute with Apple over the pricing of television shows on iTunes , NBC Universal has agreed to sell a wide variety of shows on Amazons Unbox download service including Heroes and The Office.
Last week, NBC Universal became the first television and movie company to publicly challenge Apple’s pricing as too low, saying it would not renew its contract with iTunes without a change in its pricing
Unbox also gives consumers more options, including whether to rent a movie for $3.99 or buy a download for $14.99.
Amazon agreed to offer promotions, including a 30 percent discount when buying full seasons of television shows.
However Apple Apple sells episodes of television shows for a flat $1.99, with movies priced at $9.99.
Therefore the network makes little profit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/business/media/05nbc.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

NBC at Present

For nearly two decades NBC had dominated Thursday nights, however this was set to change..
After both Friends and Frasier had finished in 2004, rival networks began to produce more hit shows i.e. CBS - CSI franchise, FOX - American Idol, ABC - Lost, Desperate Housewives and Greys Anatomy. This then led to NBC being ranked 4th as the most watched television network in the USA.

My Name is Earl - (2005 - Present) was the only show that debuted that fall surviving into a second season.
2006 - 2007






Heroes (2006 - Present) tells the story of several people who realized that they had incredible abilities. Heroes received the highest rating for any NBC drama premiere in five years.


Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was a a highly anticipated comedy drama series starring Matthew Perry, however it failed to deliver high ratings and was consequently cancelled after only one season.

A new show for 2007 is the Bionic Woman - which is a new science fiction American drama starring British Actress Michelle Ryan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC
http://www.nbc.com/
http://www.nbcuni.com/

NBC currently generates $1.5 Billion in revenue from advertising sales

Television

President Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to appear on television on April 30, 1939 and was seen by about 1,000 viewers. The next day, May 1, four models of RCA television sets went on sale to the general public in various New York City department stores, which were promoted in a series of splashy newspaper ads.

Television began its rapid ascent into the American household. The World Series of 1947 featured two New York teams (Yankees and Dodgers) and local TV sales boomed, since the games were telecast in New York. The early 1950s brought massive success for NBC in the new medium, Also, the network launched Today and The Tonight Show, which would continue to broadcast for over fifty years..

Days of Our Lives was the first soap opera to premiere on colour television

The 1970s started strongly for NBC as they had a string of hits i.e. The Dean Martin Show, The Rockford Files, Quincy, M.E and The Wonderful World of Disney . However the majority of new shows did not run for a second season due to low ratings. In 1974 the network tried to aim its programmes at a younger audience however it was also the launch of successful programme Saturday Night Live.

When US President Jimmy Carter pulled the American team out of the 1980 Summer Olympics, NBC cancelled their planned 150 hours of coverage (which had cost them $87,000,000), and the network's future was in doubt. They had been counting on the expected $170,000,000 in advertising revenues to help them throughout the year and on the broadcasts to help promote fall shows.

Hill Street Blues was a Emmy winning serial police drama (1981 - 1987)
This show was rated poorly in the first season however it was never cancelled but the drama was moved to a Thursday night, which saw a dramatic increase in ratings

The A- Team ( 1983 - 1987) is an American action adventure television series - This was the networks biggest Hit of the Year.

The Cosby Show - (1984 - 1992) was an American Television Sitcom and a huge success, it led to the renewed interest in sitcoms. Cheers was another sitcom though it wasn't much of a success due to low ratings, however after the premiere of the Cosby Show, rating dramatically increased and it earned a top ten rating for the majority of its season.

In the 1988-1989 season, NBC won every week in the ratings for over a full year, an achievement not since duplicated. Two other shows which were popular during the year were Miami Vice and L.A Law

The 1990s

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1990 - 1996) was a popular American television sitcom about a streetwise teenager (Will Smith) who is sent to live with wealthy relatives in a Bel Air mansion

Mad About You (1992 - 1999) was another American Sitcom. The series focused mainly on the newlyweds while they dealt with everything from humorous daily details to major struggles.

Frasier (1993 - 2004) was a spin-off from American sitcom Cheers (1982 - 1993).

ER (1994 - Present) is a serial medical drama which takes place at County General Hospital,Chicago,Illinois. ER is NBC's second longest running drama with 13 seasons making it the longest American prime time medical drama of all time.

Friends(1994 - 2004) is an American comedy based in New York City. The finale was one of the most watched series finales in television history, as it was watched by 51.1 Million viewers in the States.

Will & Grace(1998 - 2006) is an American sitcom which

focuses on a gay lawyer and his best friends Though it steadily gained popularity, after Friends had
finished Will and grace soon slipped out of the Top 20.

Scrubs (2001 - Present) is a comedy drama which focuses on the professional and personal lives of characters working at Sacred Heart. Though Scrubs is produced by rival network ABC it is aired on NBC

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center. It is sometimes referred to as the Peacock Network due to its stylized peacock logo.
The Founder of NBC: David Sarnoff
David Sarnoff (February 27, 1891 – December 12, 1971) was a pioneer of American television and founder of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). He was known as “The General” because he ruled over the ever growing radio and Electronics Empire which then became one of the largest companies in the world.

The Owner of NBC: NBC Universal

NBC Universal is a media and entertainment company which was formed in May 2004 . The company develops, produces and markets entertainment, news, and information to a global customer base. NBC Universal owns and operates a United States television network, numerous cable networks, a group of local stations throughout the country, motion picture companies, a number of television production companies, and multiple theme parks.

Shows aired include Law and Order, American Dreams and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

General Electric
Is a multinational American technology and services corporation incorporated in the State of New York . General Electric currently has a joint venture with Vivendi called NBC Universal

NBC also has two radio networks: the red and blue networks .

The Red Network offers music and entertainment programming whilst the Blue Network carries out more un sponsored broadcasts i.e. news and cultural programmes. Both networks were launched in November 1926.

In 1940, due to an ongoing legal battle NBC was divided into two companies if in case NBC lost the case:The Blue network became the "NBC Blue Network, Inc." (now as ABC) and the NBC Red became "NBC Red Network, Inc." which was later known as NBC.

The entrance to the NBC Tower, New York

In 1975, NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service, which provided up to 55 minutes of news per hour.

In summer 1987, NBC Radio's network operations were sold to Westwood One, and the NBC-owned stations were sold to various buyers.

At about the same time Westwood One began to distribute a new service called NBC News Radio, consisting of brief news updates read by NBC News and MSNBC anchors and reporters.