• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 15, 2007

NBC Universal's Jeff Zucker has great timing. 

As a sign of this, the chief executive of the company says the NBC network is poised to grab about the same level of upfront prime-time dollars as a year ago -- somewhere between $1.8 billion and $1.9 billion -- and that NBC will sell about 75% of its inventory.

This is new for TV executives -- revealing upfront advertising information before the deals, for the most part, are done, before the upfront market shifts into full gear.

Increasingly, TV and entertainment chiefs need to share more financial data with the Wall Street analysts -- and upfront revenues, which in years past were passed around like gossip, are just the ticket. Better still, this is safe information to reveal for a number of reasons, with little downside.

For example, increasingly, upfront numbers are of little importance, especially since advertising executives can option to spend less -- or add more  --throughout the year. Additionally, the upfront itself, while still a big way to grab money, seems to be slowly losing steam as advertisers look to hold onto money for other media during the year.

The NBC network, as well, continues to be less of a factor for the company as a whole --only representing 5% to 10% of the company's total profits, down from $900 million to just $100 million this year.  NBC can count on digital, cable, and other areas for advertising growth.

But Zucker says the NBC network -- and especially its prime-time schedule -- is still essentially the face of the company.  So if people want numbers, they'll get numbers. No problem.

You have to hand it to Zucker in the timing of the New York City meeting, held right after a public ousting of Kevin Reilly, NBC's main creative executive, for producer Ben Silverman, and right smack in the middle of the upfront proceedings. It also comes a day after a public $1 billion upfront deal with major media agency group Group M -- the first deal of the season.

With his General Electric superiors breathing down his back, not standing for any GE division that comes in fourth place, Zucker has to be ahead of the curve -- or at least appear that way.