NBC Affiliates Cautiously Pleased With New Network Parent

While they say it's early to speculate, many of the general managers at NBC affiliate stations are encouraged by today's announcement that Comcast is acquiring a majority stake in NBC Universal. With Comcast's programming expertise, seemingly all hope the cable monolith will give NBC's long ailing primetime a shot in the arm. General managers acknowledge that the regulatory process could take over a year, and no one knows for sure if the FCC will sign off on the massive deal. And few have any inkling as to what Comcast's strategic plan for the network-and the affiliates -- will be, beyond what they read in today's media reports. The general managers all concede that it's too early to draw any hard conclusions on how Comcast will affect the hundreds of NBC stations around the country.