After 73 years of providing Entertainment, the first television Network NBC might become a Cable Channel. I know it sounds crazy and you might think you are misreading this post but due to NBC's failing ratings Comcast has an interest in buying the Network which might make the famed peacock a cable property. Currently it has not been announced what Comcast's plans are once they buy NBC but since this is such big news I thought I would make some predictions on what may happen if NBC becomes a Cable Channel.

First off the most obvious thing that will happen when NBC becomes a Cable Network is that it will only be available to Comcast subscribers not people who own a Dish. This was something that Comcast did in my local area when they set up a Chicago based Sports Network called Comcast Sports Net or CSN. When CSN came into existence a large portion of Chicago's Professional Sporting Events were shown on the Network which was bad news for people using a Dish because CSN was only available to Comcast subscribers. Eventually the demand for Cubs, Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks games became so high from Direct TV and Dish Network subscribers, these Satellite providers had no other choice but to pay their competitor Comcast to show CSN on their Television systems. Based on this information I would assume that Comcast will try to make the same move with NBC, the only problem is that it took about a year for the Satellite providers to decide that CSN should be one of their Channel options. In thinking about it, a year is a long time and I don't think that shows like The Emmy Award Winning 30 Rock or The Office will want to go that long without being easily accessible to audiences. Due to this issue I see these sitcoms jumping ship and moving to another network. NBC shows like Scrubs and Medium made the jump so why not 30 Rock and The Office. Besides both CBS and ABC would love to have their comedy line up supported by popular Comedy Actors like Steve Carell and Tina Fey.


The other issue with NBC possibly making the switch to Cable is that local programming like the daily and nightly news may be removed. Current Cable Networks like TBS were once local Channels that had news programming but now that they are established on Cable the news has been done away with. If a Cable version of NBC does remove the local news that means people working at the Network's affiliate studios may lose their jobs. Again, this is all speculation but I did see an ad on a bus about NBC laying off their affiliate employees so I wonder if selling out to Comcast has something to do with that.


The bottom line with this whole NBC maybe becoming a Cable Channel issue is that if a National Network can go down the tubes by just putting a talk show on at 10/9c then can the same thing happen to another Network for a cancellation or moving around their schedule? At this point the other National Networks CBS, ABC, Fox and The CW seem to be doing just fine and NBC might not become a Cable Network. However with all this going on the TV Industry seems like a scary place for aspiring writer like me.