Amid an ongoing Hollywood writers' strike and declining television ratings, NBC has decided to return cash to some advertisers instead of providing them additional spots in what are known as "make goods." This is an unusual move, one of last resort say some industry experts, but fourth-ranked NBC faces further downward ratings pressure since it doesn't have any prominent new shows this season. 
Furthermore, Nielson's new method of rating commercial viewership of live TV and for three days on DVR has shown a worsening of NBC's ratings compared to minor increases for competitors. The reimbursements are for the Sept. 2006 to May 2007 period and were first reported by Nielsen's Mediaweek, which valued refunds at $500,000, on average, according to media buyers. Mediaweek noted CBS (CBS), ABC (owned by Disney (DIS)) and Fox (owned by News Corp. (NWS)) are issuing makegoods, primarily for Q1. NBC said the cash amount to be returned represents an "extremely small portion" of the company's business. Shares of NBC's parent General Electric (GE) lost 1% to $37.03 on Tuesday.
Additional Reading: GE's Earnings to Grow At Least 10% in 2008 - Immelt • NBC to Bring Docudrama to Prime-Time • NBC First to Buy TiVo Demographic Data to Improve Ad Effectiveness
Seeking Alpha's news briefs are combined into a pre-market summary called Wall Street Breakfast. Get Wall Street Breakfast by email -- it's free and takes only seconds to sign up.
