Comcast Commemorates 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington Across Multiple Platforms

Interactive Website Chronicles Civil Rights Movement History on HisDreamOurStories.com; Video Interviews with Civil Right Leaders, Including Rev. Billy Kyles, Mamie Chalmers, Rep. John Lewis, and Former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young to be Available through Xfinity On Demand, Online, Comcast Newsmakers and E-Book

PHILADELPHIA, PA – August 22, 2013 – To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a major milestone of the Civil Rights Movement where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech, Comcast has created a first of its kind video compilation to help chronicle the history and impact of the movement. Called His Dream, Our Stories, the package includes more than 80 unique and personal interviews with civic leaders, elders, clergy, and activists, and will be available on Xfinity On Demand and online through October 12th and permanently at HisDreamOurStories.com.

Through commentary and archived footage, His Dream, Our Stories chronicles the March on Washington, the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement through interviews from influential leaders, including Rev. Billy Kyles, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, Ernest Green of the Little Rock Nine, political leaders like Rep. John Lewis and attendees of the March on Washington, the Detroit Walk to Freedom and the Selma-Montgomery March. Other topics include sit-ins of the 1960s, the Atlanta Student Movement, Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike of 1968 and the impact and legacy of the Civil Rights Movement on minority communities of all types.

In addition to viewing the full library of interviews, visitors to HisDreamOurStories.com will be able to submit their own stories commemorating the 50th anniversary of this pivotal event in our nation’s history. Users will also be able to discover and learn about civil rights organizations which continue to work toward equality and freedom, including the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Urban League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Civil Rights Museum.

“Comcast and NBCUniversal are proud to contribute to this anniversary with such compelling content about the fight for civil rights,” said Charisse R. Lillie, Vice President of Community Investment, Comcast Corporation, and President of the Comcast Foundation. “It’s important to remember Dr. King’s legacy, and this unprecedented interactive multimedia package enables stories to be shared like never before.”

In addition to HisDreamOurStories.com, which serves as the ongoing online location for footage, features and finding and sharing information about the Civil Rights Movement, Comcast and NBCUniversal are making the content available across a variety of other platforms as part of current and planned coverage of the August 28th March on Washington anniversary.

• His Dream, Our Stories e-book: In late August, an educational e-book from NBC Publishing including 25 videos and an introduction from news journalist Lester Holt will be available to download for free on iTunes, Amazon and Nook stores.
• MSNBC: Will feature His Dream, Our Stories content online.
• And much more!

Additionally, anyone interested in utilizing the rich content library of His Dream, Our Stories can embed any of the videos to share content on their own websites, blogs and social media platforms.

For more information about Comcast and NBCUniversal’s diversity and inclusion efforts, visit www.comcast.com/diversity.

About Comcast Corporation:
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. NBCUniversal operates 30 news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

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Media Contact:
Katie Lubenow
Katie_Lubenow@comcast.com
215-286-5691

“Election Night” - New eBook Available From NBC Publishing

NEW YORK, NY – November 5, 2012 – On the eve of the election, NBC Publishing announces the release of Election Night: A Television History by media journalist Stephen Battaglio. As seen on NBC’s TODAY show, the book is a fascinating and revealing look at the evolution of U.S. presidential election night broadcasts since 1948 and how this televised event continues to galvanize the nation every four years.

Battaglio explores the technical advancements in vote counting, the aggregation of live coverage from the field, the compilation of polling information, the process of calling a state for a candidate, and how the drama ultimately unfolds in the energetic control room. Through the lens of NBC News, Election Night highlights commentary by legendary news figures such as Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, Tom Brokaw, Tim Russert, and Brian Williams and many iconic moments that have made history.

Drawing from the extensive assets of the NBC News Archives, Battaglio takes his readers through each of the sixteen presidential races since the dawn of television beginning with Truman vs. Dewey in 1948 to today. The enhanced edition contains more than an hour of video from the archives of NBC News featuring some of television's most memorable appearances by major political figures in U.S. history including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, John McCain, and Barack Obama among many others.

With engaging anecdotes from industry professionals, photographs, and memorabilia from each political campaign, Election Night provides a "behind-the-scenes" account of the political campaigns and network coverage giving readers unprecedented inside access to history in the making.

NBC Publishing will release a free chapter featuring Battaglio’s soon-to-be-written coverage of the upcoming 2012 election during the month of November.

Election Night: A Television History is a must read for history buffs, political junkies, and television enthusiasts everywhere. Both enhanced and non-enhanced versions will be available for purchase wherever eBooks are sold.

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About the Author

Stephen Battaglio is the business editor for TV Guide Magazine. He has also written about the television industry for The New York Times, Fortune, the New York Daily News and The Hollywood Reporter. He is the author of David Susskind: A Televised Life the 2010 biography of the influential talk show host and TV producer. In 2011, he wrote From Yesterday to Today:  a pictorial history of the first 60 years of NBC's Today. Battaglio has appeared as a media commentator on numerous TV and radio programs including CBS Sunday Morning, NBC Nightly News, Entertainment Tonight, NPR's Morning Edition, NBC's Today, ABC's Good Morning America, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, WOR's The Joan Hamburg Show and Inside Edition. He was also featured as a television historian in Pioneers of Thirteen, a 2012 TV documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of WNET. He lives in New York City.

About NBC Publishing

NBC Publishing is a division of NBCUniversal Media, LLC that focuses on developing digital publishing projects from content created within the NBCUniversal and Comcast family of properties, as well as publishing original works with outside authors and publishing partners. http://www.nbcpublishing.com

For more information contact:

Marie Wicht

NBC News

e: marie.wicht@nbcuni.com

Book Expo America 2011: Surprisingly Touching!

Another Book Expo America has come and gone.

This was my twelfth time attending so when comparing this year's show to previous ones, I'd have to say the crowds of publishers, booksellers, librarians, and authors seemed less anxious about all things digital and instead appeared ready to openly embrace the undeniable fact that digital book products are here to stay.

Everyone I ran into wanted to discuss eBooks, Apps, eReaders, tablets, and whatever else might be coming down the pike. They also seemed genuinely interested to learn more and excited in making the various new content formats and sales channels work in their favor.

In addition to these conversations, more evidence was found during Publishers Launch, an all day seminar that dealt with a variety of hot topics and pressing issues surrounding the book industry today. Several who attended these sessions were from international companies facing similar challenges of their own. The conference within a conference was presented by Mike Shatzkin (Video Interview) and Michael Cader and gave the 120 or so in attendance an opportunity to hear industry heavies like Evan Schnittman of Bloomsbury, Tom Turvey of Google Books, Steve Potash of Overdrive, Dominique Raccah of Sourcebooks, Simon Lipskar of Writer's House, Charlie Redmayne of HarperCollins, Cameron Drew of Kobo, and many, many more. Overall it was a very informative series of panel sessions that provided much food for thought and spurred a lot of debate.

Speaking of Kobo: It was this Canadian based company that added to the list of BEA surprises by announcing a new eReader with a Pearl eInk touchscreen, the Kobo Touch. In doing so they attempted to steal some much anticipated thunder from Barnes & Noble who the following day introduced a new Nook eReader featuring (you guessed it) a Pearl eInk touchscreen display. In a previous post I had suggested this type of device would be coming from B&N, but must admit I didn't expect to see one from Kobo as well. So now there are three basic touchscreen eReaders available at affordable prices. The Kobo Touch, Sony's Touch Edition, and the new Nook, a spiffy, sleek device billed as the "simple touch reader."

I must say this Nook appears to be a vast improvement over the first model and so far all the reviews have been quite positive. So between this new low-priced option and the critically-acclaimed Nook Color, B&N's share of the eReader market should continue to grow, especially with women readers. At this point, it will be quite disappointing if Amazon's next Kindle doesn't follow suit and include a touchscreen, but most analysts expect such a device will be announced shortly before the holiday season, if not sooner.

But as surprising as the Kobo press conference and the quality of the new Nook was, hands down the biggest eyebrow raising moment occurred just before BEA even began with the astounding announcement that legendary publisher turned literary agent Larry Kirshbaum would head the publishing division of Amazon. I don't believe anyone saw that coming and the implications of what this development means will most likely not be fully evident for months to come. But soon an experienced team of publishing pros selected and overseen by Mr. Kirshbaum will begin releasing works by prominent authors, most exclusively available only through the Kindle store, which will certainly be an interesting development for consumers, authors, and competing publishers alike.

Barnes & Noble has published books for years, but how long will it be before they introduce a full-fledged publishing arm of their own led by another cracker-jack publishing legend?

Perhaps we'll find out at Book Expo America 2012!