• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 16, 2007

A top executive at GE, NBC Universal's parent, said Friday that the upfront "came in better than expected," with prime-time CPMs up 5% at NBC and a total volume of $4 billion.

On a call to discuss the conglomerate's second-quarter results, CFO Keith Sherin described GE as "very happy" with the pre-season commitments. Almost half of the $4 billion covers NBC prime time, with the remainder including other dayparts at the network, cable, syndication and Telemundo.

NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker had previously said NBC would take in $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion for NBC prime, about the same as a year ago. Zucker had said NBC would sell about 75% of its prime inventory and 50% in cable, which includes USA and CNBC.

Sherin said CPMs for cable were in the "high single digits."

In 2Q, NBCU saw revenue decline 6% to $3.6 billion--although Sherin said the figure would be about flat, compared to a year ago, if revenues from the sale of four owned-and-operated stations in April 2006 were stripped out. Profit increased 2% (to $22 million) to $904 million, compared to a 10% drop a year ago.

While unlikely, it's possible that the bulk of the profit increase came from advertising on video streams on NBC.com. Sherin said NBC.com produced $20 million in profits in the quarter. (Zucker had previously said it made $2 million for all of 2006.)

Overall, Sherin said NBCU is producing "continued progress on the turnaround." GE CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement that the upfront "provides a solid foundation for future performance."

Though the overall profit contributions may not be seen for some time, Sherin said GE is continuing to cut costs at NBCU. The company spent some $28 million in the quarter as part of its NBC 2.0 restructuring plan, some of which went toward buyouts and severance payments for departed employees. Former NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly left during the quarter and received an unspecified buyout; he had just been signed to a new contract several months before.

While much has been made about NBC 2.0, Zucker said in June that NBC is not skimping on development or other programming-related costs. Over the last three years, NBCU boosted its prime-time development budget by 25%. Some people had pinned Reilly's inability to lift NBC out of fourth place on such funding cuts.

"We are in no way, in no way, cutting the R&D that's necessary to help NBC Entertainment return its prime-time lineup (to previous levels)," Zucker told a group of investors after Reilly had been effectively replaced by Ben Silverman.

NBCU accounted for about 9% of GE revenues in the second quarter--the lowest of GE's six operating segments. However, profits, which accounted for 13%, were higher than its health-care and industrial groups.