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Why bloggers and podcasters should be happy about a Comcast/NBC deal

The report that Comcast has been discussing a deal to buy 51% of NBC Universal is good news for bloggers and podcasters.

It is evidence that a company with wires into hundreds of thousands of households sees the future online.  Comcast saw its broadband sign ups last quarter nearly double from a year ago as people turn to the Internet for more and more of their information and entertainment.

You might argue that getting a lock on NBC programming is a defensive move.  Even though the network’s audience has been shrinking ever since Seinfeld had his last cup of coffee at Monk’s Cafe (aka Tom’s Restaurant in real life), NBC shows attract millions of viewers a night.  Consider like ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Trauma’ as loss leaders to build foot traffic for Comcast’s other programming, its owned cable channels.  They include the Golf Channel, E!, and lots of sports.  NBC, on the other hand has cable, too, including Bravo, CNBC, and USA Networks.  (Photo courtesy of Flickr.)

A few decades ago, the Big Three networks owned it all.  Now, cable channels targeting cooks, gardeners, gays, farmers, and gamers are vacuuming up advertising dollars.  And, soon, the Internet.  In the UK, Net advertising already eclipses TV ad dollars.

While the average TV household watches ‘only’ 17 of the several hundred channels available, that's 500% more than when there were just NBC, ABC, and CBS. The growth has come from special interest programming.

And what is online audio and video? Nothing but special interest programming.  You offer me high-protein programming about Macintoshes, digital photography, and start-up investing opportunities, and I’m there.  Goodbye CBS shows or, at least, get me a DVR that records three shows at the same time for later viewing.

The point is that there are more than 125,000 podcasts available on iTunes.  Many could be aggregated into special interest channels, and programmed into a 24/7 wheel of audio or video.

If Comcast or any cable company is going to grow, the challenge it faces is to bring more people into the tent at the same time that those people have more narrow interests in content. 

I think Comcast is recognizing that tomorrow’s cable channels are today's Netcasts.  By adding NBC’s mass appeal programming and niche channels, the number one cable company’s strategy is to grow its subscriber numbers by constantly promoting of its ‘old’ cable channels and to fertilize the green shoots of a thousand more 'new' flowering programmers.

Yahoo launches shopping blog

Consumer spending may have been off last month, but Yahoo is doing its best to pump up purchasing intentions. 

The Yahoo Shopping blog is intended to "interesting products, great deals, new site features, and user generated content," the company's p.r. people said in an e-mail.  Think of it as something like a commercial Engadget, with a broader focus.  While the posts are written in first person, it doesn’t appear the blog is open.  Comments are open for registered users, but suggestions for featured products need to be e-mailed.

Yahoo's effort is a transparent promotion, of course, for merchants and advertisers who sell things on the site.  Because of Yahoo's huge audience, and folksy, conversational style, the blog could help move a lot of product for Shopping.Yahoo.com clients.  To some extent, it's in competition with other shopping sites like Glam.com, Daily Candy, and Omiru.

Yesterday's Startup Journal had a great story about a network of 14 consumer-product oriented blogs.   Blogpire Productions publishes Web logs about single-serve coffee, shaving products, and poker accessories.  Inspiring story for an entrepreneur.

Disclaimer: I own shares of Yahoo.

Who's the next Scoble?

Make You Go Hmm  and Valleywag are fueling the speculation. Early chatter makes Niall Kennedy a 3-1 pick.  Formerly of "an RSS feed geek" with Technorati, he currently works for Microsoft, so he'd be an insider, like Scoble was.  Kennedy also does a weekly podcast with the Net's latest pro-blogger, Om Malik. 

Scoble's last appearance as a Microsoftie, by the way, was on the This Week in Tech podcast produced at Vloggercon.  At one point, you can hear Scoble laugh and say, "I am the propaganda."