NBC finally makes a decision: no upfronts, but a smaller “spotlight” event, and then series of client meetings with media buyers instead. As NYT writes here, get ready for “the endless season”, quoting Gene DeWitt, CEO at DeWitt Media.

The “spotlight event” will be held May 12 in NYC and will focus on all NBCU platform, including digital. Meanwhile, business as usual for its cable channels, who will still hold their upfronts.

AdAge: NBC is, in some sense, trying to have it both ways. NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) CEO Jeff Zucker has been talking about how the big upfront meeting is a vestige of a past era. But Fox, CBS (NYSE: CBS), the CW and ABC are all still wedded to the upfront, which often bring droves of ad buyers and advertisers to New York, and NBC faced looking less than enthusiastic about its ad and program offerings if it didn’t try to match its competitors in some fashion.