• BusinessWeek.com, Friday, November 17, 2006 11:15 AM

NBC Universal's new digital czar, Beth Comstock, and her staffers are offering key advertisers the services of its digital studios, blurring the lines between broadcaster, ad agency and marketer. Discussions have been going on for about three months, Comstock says, and the first deals could be done in a month.

A direct relationship between networks and marketers could threaten ad agencies' middleman role. Comstock is quick to point out that NBC's marketing efforts will primarily be "adjuncts" to existing campaigns and that "most of the discussions" with marketers involve ad agencies.

The unit working with advertisers is a year-old production outfit called NBC Universal Digital Studios. Its work is likely to appear outside company properties, perhaps on mobile devices or advertisers' own Web sites--and it won't just be video, says George Kliavkoff, NBC Universal's chief digital officer.

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