Nightly News Helps Comcast/Kabletown

At first, I couldn't figure out why Nightly News would air two different stories (Saturday and Sunday) about the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito fight that took place Saturday night. Nightly News wouldn't run a story like this--certainly not on two consecutive nights--unless it provided some sort of benefit to NBC. Then it hit me like a Pacquiao uppercut. This was a favor to NBC's soon-to-be owners at Comcast (or Kabletown, as the company is called on "30 Rock"). Although the bout was shown on HBO Pay-Per-View, the cable operators (like Comcast) that carry HBO PPV also get a cut of the profits. The more people that purchase the fight, the more money Comcast makes. So the Pacquiao stories on this weekend's Nightly News amounted to four minutes of free advertising for the fight--to the benefit of Comcast (the fight was still available for purchase on Sunday for those who may have missed it on Saturday). The Nightly News producers were so eager to please their new bosses at Comcast that they even aired Sunday's Pacquiao story in place of the usual NFL-related story they run most Sundays (to promote NBC's Sunday Night Football). Obviously, this is one of the reasons Comcast is acquiring NBC. Lots of free promotion for Comcast's other properties. Well done, Nightly News producers. I'm sure that Jack Donaghy and everyone at Kabletown appreciate what you did for them.