NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman had something for every TV marketer during his upfront presentation to journalists on Wednesday. Silverman -- as well as Co-Chairman Marc Graboff -- made a pledge to give advertisers more or less what they bought. For instance, NBC promises no radical changes of content in specific time periods. But Silverman also gave something of a bonus to advertisers -- a return of the family hour, something a growing batch of advertisers have wanted for a long time.

It was no April Fool's joke for on-air and off-air talent at CBS TV stations. Senior CBS TV station executives started off the second quarter of 2008 as if the recession had arrived -- with some indigestion at their somewhat bloated TV stations news operations.

his season NBC seems to be promising advertisers something new: in addition to ratings and engagement guarantees, it's making genre/time programming guarantees. Marc Graboff, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, told Daily Variety if, say, an action hour isn't working, NBC would replace it with another similar action hour -- not a reality show, not a comedy, not a cartoon.