NBC Universal Truths; TV Group Makes Tweaks as It Moves Into Second Year.(Special Report: NBC Universal Television)

Byline: Melissa Grego

Jeffrey Zucker became captain of one of the biggest ships in television on May 12, 2004.

That's when General Electric-owned NBC's deal to acquire the U.S. entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal closed, NBC Universal Television Group was formed and Mr. Zucker was named president of the new TV division. Since then, the 40-year-old executive has been responsible for all programming across the companies' merged television properties with the exception of NBC Sports and Olympics.

A prototypical overachiever, Mr. Zucker-who less than five years ago was executive producer of the NBC morning news show "Today'' and who, by the way, skipped second grade-had his crew assembled and organized the day the new group sailed.

"We had really been preparing for it for almost a year,'' Mr. Zucker said earlier this month during an interview in his Burbank office. Though he's based in New York, he spends about five days per month on the West Coast. "That's one of the hallmarks of a GE company-that integration doesn't begin on day one,'' he said. "It goes into effect on day one.''

During its first year, however, NBCU TV Group, comprised of roughly 3,000 employees not including the NBC owned-and-operated TV stations, …