Florida News Center

With less than a week until the 2012 Ölympics (in London this year, for those who might be in a coma) begin, Florida NBC affiliates have dusted off and polished their own gold. Check out the NBC Ölympic custom affiliate logos below.

WFLA – Tampa	WTVJ – Miami	WESH – Orlando
WPTV – West Palm Beach	WTLV – Jacksonville	WPMI – Pensacola
WBBH – Fort Myers	WJHG – Panama City	WNBW – Gainesville
WTWC – Tallahassee

 ***This post is for educational, informational and archival purposes only. Florida News Center does not intend to infringe on any copyrights claimed by the International Olympic Committee, NBCUniversal/Comcast or NBC affiliates. This post is for educational, informational an archival purposes only.***

(from HuffingtonPost.com) - A veteran NBC Miami reporter has been fired in the ongoing probe over an edited “Today” show clip of George Zimmerman’s 911 call, placed moments before Zimmerman shot unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

Jeff Burnside was dismissed from network-owned NBC Miami (WTVJ) over a similarly edited clip on Friday, as first reported by South Florida news blog SFLTV.

According to the Miami Herald, two unidentified employees were also disciplined….Cont….

(edited from TVNewsCheck.com) – NBC Miami announced on Thursday, the launch of four hours of local weekend news.  The NBC Miami Today weekend edition premieres Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 and will air Saturdays at 6-7AM and 9-10AM and Sundays at 6-8AM followed by NBC’s Today show on WTVJ-TV.

NBC Miami Today weekend morning newscasts will be anchored by station veteran anchor/reporter Sharon Lawson. She’s joined by meteorologist Jennifer Reeves (formerly Gray) who previously worked at NBC Miami.

In addition to news of the day and weather, the weekend morning newscasts will cover local events and offer more health and enterprise stories….Cont….

(from TVSpy.com) – NBCUniversal paid $4.3 billion this week for the rights to the Olympics for the next decade, and NBC affiliates are ready to help pick up the tab.

NBC Affiliates chairman Brian Lawlor, Senior VP of the E.W. Scripps stations, tells B&C, “The infrastructure exists to help pay for the Games, as we have in the past. That will continue.”

NBC, which also owns the rights to the 2012 London Olympics, will be covering the Games in 2014 from Sochi, Russia, and in 2016 from Rio de Janeiro….Cont….

(from TVNewsCheck.com) -NBC would receive “around 50%” of its affiliates’ retransmission consent revenue as part of the still-tentative arrangement announced on Monday, under which NBC would hold the proxies of affiliates and negotiate retrans deals with cable and satellite operators on their behalf, according to Brian Lawlor, chairman of the NBC affiliate board and head of the E.W. Scripps TV group.

While confirming NBC’s share of the revenue in an interview with TVNewsCheck, Lawlor shot down reports that NBC wants a higher percentage from weaker stations as an incentive for them to improve. “Every affiliate will be treated exactly the same,” he said….Cont….

(from BroadcastingCable.com) – NBC and its affiliates have worked out the framework of an arrangement that would see the network handle retransmission consent negotiations with subscription-TV providers on behalf of its partner stations. The bulk of the pact, which has been worked on off and on for the past two years, was ironed out at the affiliate board meeting May 16 in New York, the day of NBC’s upfront presentation.

The “proxy” deal would be optional for affiliates. NBC called it “another step toward further solidifying the partnership” between the network and its affiliates.

Affiliates that opt in would hand over “proxy rights” to retrans negotiations to the network. NBC affiliates board chairman Brian Lawlor described it as a one of a kind arrangement. in broadcast television “It’s a brand new kind of deal,” he said following the upfront presentation. “It completely changes the network-affiliate model.”….Cont….

(from TVNewsCheck.com) -To win government approval of its takeover of NBCUniversal in January, Comcast promised that the 10 NBC O&Os would air an additional 1,000 hours each year of local news programming.

Today, as part of its effort to make good on that promise, NBC Local Media announced it will launch 24/7 local news multicast channels in Dallas, Miami (WTVJ) and California.

The California channel will cover three markets: Los Angeles (KNBC), San Francisco (KNTV) and San Diego (KNSD). Each channel will feature a five-day-a-week evening newscast, designed to complement the evening coverage already provided at each station….Cont….

(from TVNewsCheck.com) – The FCC’s approval of Comcast’s $13.75 billion takeover of NBCU requires the O&Os (including Miami’s WTVJ and WSCV) to air “thousands of additional hours of local news and information programming.” In addition, the agency said, some of the stations must enter into cooperative arrangements with locally focused nonprofit news organizations and they must provide free, on-demand local programming.

According to an FCC source, NBC and Telemundo stations must also air a fourth hour of children’s programming each week….Cont….

(edited from Yahoo.com) – The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department have voted to approve Comcast’s merger with NBC Universal, giving the cable and ISP giant majority ownership of NBC and its media properties (including Miami’s WTVJ NBC 6 and WSCV Telemuno 51) , including a piece of Hulu.

By a 4-1 vote, the FCC approved Comcast’s deal with General Electric, the current majority owner of NBC Universal. The Justice Department issued a similar statement declaring that the merger did not violate U.S. antitrust laws.

Under the deal, Comcast will acquire 51% of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. for approximately $13.75 billion. The deal, which has been in the works for over a year, should close before the end of the month….Cont….

Watch Brian Williams’/NBC’s response to the merger below

(from WashingtonPost.com) – Federal regulators are expected to vote Tuesday to approve Comcast and NBC Universal’s joint venture, putting an end to a more than year-long review of a controversial union that will combine the nation’s biggest broadband Internet and cable service operator with a television-and-movie powerhouse.

According to sources familiar with the thinking of the Federal Communications Commission, the deal will be approved 4 to 1, with Democratic Commissioner Michael J. Copps dissenting. The senior member of the FCC has consistently expressed concern that the joint venture would harm the public interest as too much control of content goes into the hands of a company that also controls how consumers access the Internet and television.

The sources said the Justice Department approved the deal in its antitrust review, and is expected to announce conditions it attached to the merger soon after the FCC’s vote, according to one source familiar with the federal reviews. Sources spokes on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not been officially approved….Cont….