Nbc Universal

Online video site Hulu, which has emerged as one of the most popular places to watch television shows on the Internet, wants to see whether Wall Street will tune in as much as the public. The company — owned by media giants News Corp., NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co. and private equity firm Providence Equity Partners — is in talks with investment banks about launching an initial public offering as early as this fall. The news was first reported Monday by the New York Times.

Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, posted second-quarter profit and sales that beat analysts' estimates as more customers elected premium services such as digital video recorders and high-speed Internet. Profit, excluding costs related to the company's pending takeover of NBC Universal Inc., was 33 cents a share, on sales of $9.53 billion, Comcast said Wednesday. That topped the 32-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Analysts predicted the cable operator's sales would be $9.28 billion.

Hollywood drivers on Sunday accepted a proposed contract from the studios, averting a strike that could have caused widespread disruptions to film and TV production across the country. The vote came after last-minute negotiations Saturday yielded a compromise that mollified leaders of Teamsters Local 399, who were prepared to seek a strike authorization vote from members. Both sides had been in a standoff over pay rates for more than 3,000 drivers who deliver equipment and stars to sets and on-location film and television sites.

Shortly after Mike White took over as chief executive of DirecTV, the former longtime PepsiCo executive discovered that the satellite broadcaster's human resources department had carted away all the Coke machines from the company's El Segundo headquarters. "They pulled the machines without asking me, and I got complaints about it," White laughingly recalled. "I said, 'Put the Coke machines back.' " Just as DirecTV went out of its way to make White feel welcome, he made a point of getting to know the people at his new employer.

A Los Angeles County judge on Thursday referred to arbitration the case of a Canadian engineer who contends that NBC Universal stole his idea and business strategy to launch Hulu, the website that shows TV programs and movies. Errol Hula, founder of technology company Hulavision, sued media giant NBC Universal and the Hulu joint venture four months ago, saying Hula shared trade secrets and a business plan with an NBC executive in 2006. The following year, NBC Universal announced plans to team up with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Comcast Corp. said it would add a Latino to its board of directors within two years after it takes control of NBC Universal. The move is one of several initiatives by Comcast and NBC Universal to ease concern among Latino groups about the possible effects of the proposed merger on media diversity. Comcast and NBC said they would in addition boost the number of Latinos working at both companies as well as carry more independent channels and contract more business with Latino-owned vendors.

The proposed merger between the cable company Comcast Corp. and entertainment giant NBC Universal was heavily criticized Monday by some rival media companies and consumer advocacy groups that are trying to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to block the $30-billion deal. Announced last December, the pairing of Comcast and NBC Universal would put under one roof the nation's biggest cable and broadband provider and an entertainment conglomerate whose holdings include broadcast networks NBC and Telemundo, cable channels CNBC, Bravo and USA, the Universal Pictures movie studio and more than two dozen local television stations.

If Rio Caraeff had his way, the phrase "I want my MTV" would be replaced by "I want my Vevo." The 34-year-old Santa Monica music executive, who once headed the digital music business for Universal Music Group, launched Vevo in December. In April — less than six months later — the site vaulted into the No. 1 spot for online music videos in the U.S., garnering more than 43 million unique viewers who watched 350 million streams, according to ComScore Inc. Among all video sites, Vevo ranked fourth, just after Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Fox Interactive Media, and beating out the likes of Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp.

When NBC unveiled its new fall schedule to advertisers in New York on Monday, it did something different this time: It previewed clips from new shows. It has been a brutal three years for NBC, marred by the writers guild strike, the chaotic reign of former program chief Ben Silverman and the fiasco of moving Jay Leno to prime time. Along with the travails, NBC pared back its annual "upfront" presentation, the week in spring when the networks take turns unveiling their new fall schedules to advertisers.

Bridget Baker's corner office at NBC Universal in Burbank is adorned with photos of her hobnobbing with kings. In one, a young Baker stands alongside a silver-haired Johnny Carson, in another she is mugging with denim-clad Jay Leno, and in a third, she's rubbing shoulders with bow-tied and bushy-eyebrowed Ralph J. Roberts. Roberts, the 90-year-old co-founder of Comcast Corp., might not be a household name, but he and his son, Brian, the company's chief executive, are poised to exert more sway on the future of NBC than the network's royal comedians.