Comcast’s NBC cuts 20 ‘Tonight Show’ jobs and trims at least $5 million from Leno’s pay [Comcast Roundup]

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• Comcast’s NBC Trims 20 ‘Tonight Show’ Jobs, Cuts Leno’s Pay [Bloomberg Businessweek]
• Comcast unfair scapegoat for cuts at NBC’s ‘Tonight Show’ [The LA Times] “It’s easy to scapegoat Comcast for the budget cuts NBC made at “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” last week, and indeed there has already been speculation that this is part of the new owner’s grand plan to slice and dice its way to big bucks. It’s a convenient explanation and an old story: A tightfisted new owner starts making cuts with little regard to what the impact will be on the product on screen. The only problem is that in this case, it isn’t correct. […] Since taking control of NBC in early 2011, Comcast has been anything but cheap with the network. It shelled out about $4.4 billion to hold onto the Olympics through 2020 and agreed to pay almost $1 billion a year for the National Football League through 2022.
• Comcast Tops U.S. Media Stocks by Appealing to Europhobes [Bloomberg] “Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) have soared to the top of S&P 500 media index this year, defying predictions of cable’s downfall, thanks in part to one big selling point: They don’t do business in Europe.”
• Zeebox Preps For The US Launch Of Its Social TV App, With A Little Help From Comcast [TechCrunch] “U.K.-based social TV startup Zeebox is getting ready for a U.S. launch, and when it does, it will be doing so with a big partner. Sources say the company is on the verge of announcing a partnership with Comcast ahead of its U.S. launch, which will also likely include a strategic investment from the cable provider. But it probably won’t be alone, as Zeebox’s CEO said in an emailed statement today that the startup will have a range of partners at launch.”
• Verizon, Comcast Airwaves Deal Said to Have Votes at FCC [Bloomberg]
• NBCUniversal can count its sprawling, multi-platform Olympics coverage as a win [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Class Action Accuses Comcast of Many Labor Violations [The Hollywood Reporter] “Comcast and several Universal subsidiaries are facing a new class action over alleged failures to pay overtime wages, provide meal and rest periods, and other purported labor code violations.”
• Comcast prepares to boost Tennis Channel’s reach [The LA Times]
• Google unit licensing Comcast technology for set-top boxes [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Comcast losses bid to limit class action case [Reuters]