Comcast kills the NBC Iconic Peacock Logo... Good or Bad Decision?

Above is the new, Comcast-approved logo for NBC Universal, which you may notice is missing a little something.

Visual interest, for one -- but more important to the long-standing identity of NBC, the network's peacock logo is being banished from the corporate letterhead when Comcast takes over next week. The new bosses unveiled the plain wordmark against a bluish-purple background at a town hall meeting with NBCU employees on Thursday (Jan. 27).

For good measure, the representation of Universal's spinning planet in the old NBCU logo (which is below) is gone too.

"It seemed kind of busy," incoming NBCU CEO Steve Burke said at the meeting in New York, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The peacock will still be featured on-air on NBC and news channels CNBC and MSNBC, and presumably Universal Pictures movies will still feature the word "Universal" unfurling across the globe. 

But the corporate identity indicated by the new logo seems calculated to be as bland as possible. It's accompanied by a new company slogan, "Let's make history. Again" -- which says about as little as "Characters welcome" and "Watch what happens," so at least it's consistent with what already exists at NBCU.

Soon-to-be NBC Entertainment president Bob Greenblatt is reportedly interested in making more provocative shows at the network. We hope the creative environment there comes up with something edgier than the new logo.