NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC will present its 2008-09 schedule during a news conference next week, a full six weeks ahead of its rivals and well before it has ever done in the past, the network said on Tuesday.

The event is part of a new NBC strategy that eschews the traditional "upfront" extravaganza for advertisers in mid-May in favor of a 52-week scheduling announcement in early May and one-on-one meetings between the network executives and advertisers in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Taking part in the Rockefeller Plaza event will be Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, as well as network sales chiefs.