NYTs: NBC Adrift, Losing Ground As Brian Williams New Show A Flop

You know it's bad when even the New York Times gets around to noticing one of their own going south. As for Brian Williams, the bit about his new show being "greeted with some of the lowest ratings in prime time," has to be a bit of an ouch. Someone should wake him up and let him know about it. It's news, now! 

Struggling with declining ratings across all three franchises, however, and with news this week that the network is preparing to replace Ann Curry on “Today,” NBC executives are facing a new narrative that is being embraced by the competition. For the first time in more than a decade, NBC News appears to be adrift.

NBC’s major news shows, including “NBC Nightly News” and “Meet the Press,” have lost ground to rivals in the last year, causing wider concerns about the health of the news division, which has been the No. 1 television news operation in America for the better part of two decades. For now it is still No. 1 by almost every measure, but it appears to be more vulnerable than it has been at any time in years.

And NBC’s effort to start a newsmagazine, “Rock Center,” led by its chief anchor, Brian Williams, has been greeted with some of the lowest ratings in prime time. NBC News remains committed to it, however. Indeed, NBC’s prime-time performance is as weak as any network has been in broadcasting history. Up until recently, the news programs had defied gravity in holding up so well.