Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is Broadcast

FCC logo



Summary: Microsoft is broadcasting its messages to the world via NBC, its new advertising partner (not just 'news' partner); the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is reportedly working with Microsoft again, months after its executive Steven VanRoekel was named managing director of the FCC

Microsoft and NBC: Decoupling Couple



IT HAS BEEN a long time since we last wrote about MSNBC's manipulation of stories in Microsoft's favour. Yes, Microsoft is also in the news business, reporting about itself in collaboration with NBC's reputation. There are some other examples of channels that Microsoft and Gates partly control through investments, but we leave those aside today.



The news starts with a press release which says that "NBC Taps Microsoft Advertising" and it is celebrated by only two sources we could find, namely Microsoft Nick and another very familiar Microsoft booster.

NBC has tapped Microsoft Advertising to do a broad, multiplatform campaign for promoting the network's fall television lineup, the companies announced Thursday.


We later found another site that covered it, but that's about it. This hardly matters, but it received congratulatory coverage.

Is anyone surprised by these moves? This pair is already working very closely together. Is this the best Microsoft can do? Use existing partners to pretend to have 'won' a contract?

aQuantive



Also in the Microsoft Web sites:

Record aQuantive deal slow to produce results for Microsoft



Three years after Microsoft agreed to buy Seattle-based digital advertising company aQuantive, the Redmond company’s ad revenues have barely budged, its online losses have deepened, many of aQuantive’s top executives have left, and one of aQuantive’s biggest units has been sold.


Microsoft sold part of the company (after rumours), shedding off over 2,000 workers in the process. Microsoft actually laid off many more and lost many managers, including many aQuantive heads. Since their acquisition they have left Microsoft. We kept track of them because it matters where they end up influencing, often connecting the new employer with the former (Microsoft). This leads us to the next report.

FCC Managing Director and Microsoft



We are actually a lot more interested in what Microsoft does with the regulators of media/network and broadcast. Recall what happened to the FCC after it had hired a Microsoft executive for a top position [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. It happened after Microsoft had been trying to get into the core of the system and this push is back again. (more from John Letzing in the Wall Street Journal)

U.S. Federal Communications Commission officials have visited Microsoft Corp.'s Redmond, Wash., campus to examine an experimental network relying on unused TV airwaves the company hopes will help lead to expanded Internet access, according to a public filing.


Is the FCC giving Microsoft an opportunity to also control networks now? Is Microsoft not getting enough with the media layer just yet? Eben Moglen recently explained why this is dangerous.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
 
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October