Super Bowl Update

Broadcasting fulfills its promise, delivering entertainment and vital information to the public — free of charge, if people want it that way. Yet, the current FCC ignores broadcasting's contributions and pushes broadband policies that undermine the medium. [TVNewsCheck ]

If there's any soul-searching among top television executives about onscreen violence contributing to real-life tragedies like the Connecticut school shooting, it isn't readily apparent. [AP ]

Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts says her road to recovery will bring her back to the #1 network morning show's anchor desk soon. [KMOV ]

Cable TV got all the love during Sunday's Golden Globe awards show ... and only PBS kept broadcast TV from being completely shut out. [NPR ]

ABC News will launch GMA Live, a 15-minute extension of Good Morning America starting Monday, Dec. 10.

The daily, web-only program will stream live across Goodmorningamerica.com on Yahoo! and ABCNews.comfollowing the GMA broadcast at 8:15 a.m. CT. GMA Live will be anchored by GMA’s Josh Elliott, Lara Spencer, Sam Champion and Amy Robach with special guests and contributors from the ABC family joining the conversation. The anchors and contributors on the show will vary day to day.

“This is a chance for our gang to put their feet up and bring everyone backstage right after we get off the air. We are going to have a great time pulling back the curtain a bit,” said Tom Cibrowski, GMA senior executive producer.

From pop-culture news to trending topics and lifestyle tips, GMA’s all-star team will discuss the hottest stories of the day in a more conversational matter. “GMA Live is just one more example of ABC News’ commitment to delivering excellent content and a live, video experience to our growing digital audience,” said Joe Ruffolo, senior VP of ABC News Digital.

ABC's Good Morning America is about to win its third week in a row in both total viewers and the all-important group of viewers who are ages 25 to 54, and the folks at NBC's Today are left to wonder just what happened.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post wastes no time speculating - she jumps right in with both feet and writes, simply, that it's a direct result of "the curse of Ann Curry."

But is it really that simple?  Maybe not.  While Curry's ouster was unpopular with viewers, it's by far not the only problem the show has.

There's evident discord among those who remain.  Al Roker made that clear when he quipped about the show's "tradition" of "throw(ing) one of us under the bus."  NBC had to quickly put out that fire, but few really bought the explanation.

And then there was last week.  While ABC and CBS took their viewers to the moment of silence for the September 11 victims, NBC blithely showed Kardashian mama Kris Jenner talking about her latest boob job instead.  And then refused to apologize ... until NBC News president Steve Capus did so - to the affiliates - anyway.

In his apology, Capus took great pains to point out how "brilliant" Savannah Guthrie (Curry's replacement) and Matt Lauer are together.  If that were really true, there would be no reason to point it out. Others would be doing so ... yet no one is, has or will, because they're really not.

Meanwhile, over at ABC, despite the absence of Robin Roberts (who is dealing with a serious health issue), GMA continues to roll.  Why?  They've taken adversity and turned it into a positive, through the use of celebrity guest co-hosts, and continuing to do what they do seamlessly and without strife.

CBS, too, seems to have finally found a niche for itself with CBS This Morning.  While the show is still behind both ABC and GMA, it's making strides, and with good reason - while the combination of Norah O'Donnell, Charlie Rose and Gayle King may seem strange, it just plain works.

Maybe NBC needs to watch ... and learn.

It looks like the replacement of Ann Curry with Savannah Guthrie at NBC's Today show hasn't worked out quite like the folks at the Peacock Network had hoped.

Last week - Guthrie's first full week on the program - ABC's Good Morning America delivered a fairly decisive blow, beating Today by some 357,000 viewers, according to early numbers from Nielsen.  The final figures, to come later this week, may change ... but not by enough to give NBC back the win.

It's ABC's third straight weekly win over NBC in the morning, and the biggest one for GMA in more than 17 years.

You may recall that Today had held down an astounding 852 weeks (that's a stretch way back to 1995, folks) as the top-rated morning show on TV before falling to GMA several times earlier this year. NBC execs all but called it a fluke, saying they were satisfied with the team they had in place and all was well.

Then they shunted Curry aside.

This time around, "We are incredibly confident in the new Today anchor team," executive producer Jim Bell told the AP's Frazier Moore. "Although it's premature to look at one week of unofficial numbers and draw any conclusions, we just made a big change that we didn't take lightly, and we are in this for the long run."

But we've heard that before, too.

Of course, it's still early, and anything could happen.  Stay tuned ...