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Ben Silverman on Charlie Rose: We're Regulated, Hence Better Online

This story was written by Rafat Ali.


Ben Silverman was on Charlie Rose show last night, and talked about, in big part, shows like SNL and 30 Rock, and NBCU's and TV networks' digital future. On digital, he has some polite words about YouTube, vis-a-vis Hulu, but ultimately disses it when asked about its advertising potential: "Because that same image is next to a cat peeing in a toilet...So I think if you`re an advertiser, and you look at the environment of NBC, you know you're in a protected environment. You know what happens within that night on NBC, and you know that environment is not only safeNBC, in fact, has a contract with the audience. You know, we're governed by the FCC, et cetera, et cetera, whereas there is none of that regulation online, and there is also user generated, can also be 12-year-old screaming in his dorm room."

Meanwhile, someone's ticked off big time on his relatively-harmless talk. He's biding his time for a graceful exit from NBCU sometime in the near future, and trying to build up his own legacy/position while at it, so why worry

The full video, embedded below:


By Rafat Ali

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