Brian Roberts Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Wonya Lucas, a veteran media exec who held the post of CEO for Hallmark Media Networks and TV One, has been appointed to Comcast‘s board of directors.

Fritz Wepper, a German actor with a prolific TV career in his native country but known to American audiences for his funny and heartfelt performance as a German Jew is Bob Fosse’s hit 1972 Oscar-winning musical film Cabaret, died Monday at a hospice facility in Munich. He was 82.

Comcast hosted about 300 at its Philadelphia headquarters Tuesday to highlight the technology side of its business, one that’s less covered than entertainment but sets it apart from media rivals, and gives its content an attractive home.

Comcast execs did some more crowing about Peacock’s landmark AFC Wild Card game this month and said it drove paid signups to the streaming service. They declined to specify how many new customers came aboard but said they’re focused on retaining those — and all — subscribers and scaling up the streamer, which passed $1 billion in revenue and hit 31 million subscribers last quarter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Comcast saw fourth-quarter profit surge by 7.8% as the cable giant increased the number of businesses using its communications services, its Peacock streaming hub added 3 million subscribers and its theme parks saw robust activity. “Our unique and complementary capabilities will enable us to capitalize on the many opportunities ahead,” said Brian Roberts, the company’s chairman. Comcast is, like its rivals, navigating in a difficult period for media companies as one-time TV viewers migrate to streaming video, reducing interest in traditional linear entertainment services and traditional cable.

“It’s a quarter of a century later, and I’m still f*cking being discovered by Sundance,” beamed Christopher Nolan tonight at the Sundance Film Festival Opening Night Gala as he received the inaugural Trailblazer award.

Disney is going all in for Hulu.

Editor’s note: Deadline will update this post as more donations and efforts by major media entities are announced.

EXCLUSIVE: The writers have turned up to the theme parks.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said the Disney-Charter carriage dispute took a “notable” financial toll on many pay-TV stakeholders, but he touted his efforts to “modernize” the company’s distribution relationships for the streaming era.

Comcast and Disney have modified their Hulu agreement to enable the expected buyout of Comcast’s one-third stake in the streamer to begin on September 30 instead of next January.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Comcast and Disney last week signed a modification agreement to bring forward the timing of their formal Hulu sale talks to Sept. 30 from its previous January 2024 timeline, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts kicked off an appearance Wednesday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference by saying he’s “not completely surprised” by the Disney-Charter carriage battle.

California Treasurer Fiona Ma has sent letters to the CEOs of seven Hollywood studios urging a return to the bargaining table with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA to end a months-long double strike that’s shut down much of the entertainment industry and is taking a major toll on the California economy.

“I know how to change bad news into good news,” Edward L. Bernays, the father of public relations, used to boast. Since he was a nephew of Sigmund Freud, I wonder how he’d find a positive mind-set among today’s practitioners of his craft.

Trustees of New York City’s $250 billion pension funds have warned Disney, Paramount and Comcast that they risk losing investor confidence if they allow the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes to drag on much longer. The WGA has been on strike since May 2, and SAG-AFTRA since July 14.

Disney interim chief financial officer Kevn Lansberry said the company is “very comfortable with our current liquidity position” as the time approaches for it to buy Comcast’s one-third stake in Hulu.

Mike Cavanagh, the president of Comcast who was recently named the de-facto head of NBC Universal, said the company remains “committed to reaching a fair deal [with actors and writers[ as soon as possible, so we can get back to doing what we do best, which making great content together.”

Media giant Comcast beat on its top and bottom line for the three months ended in June with theme parks and studio strong, even as the latter basks in another giant opening, for Opppenheimer, in the current third quarter.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Comcast reported its second-quarter 2023 earnings Thursday, revealing theatrical revenue rose 65.9% year over year with the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” while Peacock added just 2 million more subscribers over the three month period. At the end of Q1, Comcast said the NBCUniversal streamer had reached 22 million U.S.

The news Thursday about Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Donna Langley’s ascent to bring TV content under her domain doesn’t just speak to the greater NBCUniversal plan to have a more unified strategy across theatrical, TV and streaming.

Writers Guild of America is opening up a new front against the studios as its strike continues, as WGA West President Meredith Stiehm sent an open letter to Netflix and Comcast shareholders calling on them to reject the pay packages for those companies’ top executives that are up for a vote. Netflix is set to have its annual shareholders meeting on June 1, with Comcast, parent company of NBCUniversal, holding its shareholder meeting on June 7.

The CEO of NBCUniversal parent Comcast said it’s “more likely than not” the company will end up selling its third of Hulu to Disney, after his Mouse counterpart indicated clearly last week that this would be Disney’s preferred outcome. There’s been some grandstanding over the past year as the deadline approaches, but both of Hulu’s parents appear to be on or near the same page now.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts addressed the company potentially selling its 33% stake in the streamer. “I think it’s more likely than not,” Roberts said. “I’m pretty certain if and when we sell our Hulu stake, it’ll be for more than what we have, and in fact, that’s contractually certain.”Disney currently owns 67% of Hulu with with Comcast’s NBCUniversal holding a minority stake.

Twitter has a new CEO.

Wall Street Journal report that she is in talks to become Twitter’s new chief executive officer. “It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team,” she said in a statement. “We’ve transformed our company and the entire industry—and I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished together, and grateful to my colleagues and mentors, especially Brian Roberts, Mike Cavanagh and the entire NBCU leadership team.”Since joining NBCU in 2011, Yaccarino’s team has generated more than $100 billion in ad sales, expanded the company’s reach globablly, helped launch Peacock, and made massive investments in data and technology capabilities.

Hadley Gamble, whose complaints led to the firing of ex-NBCUniversal boss Jeff Shell late last month, is leaving CNBC, the network said today.

unable to reach a deal in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.The guild has shared an infographic that outlines the $773 million in combined salary that eight major Hollywood studio CEOs made in 2021. They include Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel ($308.2 million), Warner Bros.

complaint filed by CNBC’s Hadley Gamble alleging sexual harassment, earned a total compensation package in 2022 that reached $21.01 million, compared with $21.6 million in 2021 and $16.5 million in 2020. The 2022 package included a $2.5 million base salary, $6.61 million in stock awards, $4.19 million in option awards, $7.5 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, which represent annual performance-based bonuses, and $215,130 in “other compensation,” including $202,755 for Shell’s personal use of the company-provided aircraft.“As previously disclosed, Mr.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jeff Shell, the former chief executive of NBCUniversal, forfeited stock grants and options worth $43.3 million after he was fired for cause earlier this week, according to a Comcast regulatory filing. Shell was terminated as CEO of NBCU over the past weekend after an internal investigation into his relationship with Hadley Gamble, an international correspondent for CNBC. “As previously disclosed, Mr. Shell’s employment was terminated with cause on April 23, 2023. As a result, he did not receive any supplemental payments or benefits in connection with his termination,” Comcast said in its 2023 proxy statement. “He will receive only his accrued but unpaid base salary and vacation time, vested employee benefits and reimbursement for any unreimbursed business expenses in accordance with his employment agreement.”

just 48% of U.S. adults had a monthly cable or satellite subscription, while a slim majority had signed on for streaming services.Indeed, Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, also reported that its streaming service Peacock picked up 2 million net new subscribers in the quarter.As a result of the decline in cable subscribers, Comcast saw revenue from video fall 8% year-over-year to $7.38 billion in the first quarter, down from $8 billion last year.Put another way, cable TV revenue in the first quarter was not quite 25% of Comcast’s total revenue of $29.69 billion.At the same time, both broadband and wireless customers in the U.S.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The first rumblings about Comcast considering a major change involving NBCUniversal started this time last year.Now, in the wake of NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell’s abrupt firing, industry speculation about what may be in store for the network-studio conglomerate has gone into what-if overdrive. Maybe NBCU merges with Hulu to become a stand-alone company. Maybe the cable operations of Comcast and the satellite business of the U.K.-based Sky are separated from NBCU.

Newly interim NBCUniversal boss Mike Cavanagh has spoken out on the Jeff Shell shocker for the first time and said he’ll be in the post overseeing the entertainment unit “for a while.”

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts kicked off the company’s first-quarter earnings call by acknowledging the abrupt dismissal of NBCUniversal chief Jeff Shell last Sunday.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Comcast said it managed to boost profit during its fiscal first quarter even as it navigated a dip in media advertising and slowing growth among broadband subscribers, yet boosted U.S. subscribers to its Peacock streaming hub to 22 million. The Philadelphia owner of NBCUniversal, Sky and its large broadband and cable business said profit came to $3.83 billion, or 91 cents per share, compared with $3.55 billion, or 78 cents per share in the year-earlier period. Comcast reported earnings per share of 92 cents after adjusting for one-time items Revenue fell 4% to $29.69 billion, compared with $31.01 billion in the year-earlier period, thanks to comparisons with a quarter in 2022 that contained both the broadcast of the Super Bowl and the Beijing Olympics.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Top Comcast execs made their first public comments on the departure of NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell Thursday, remarks that came as the company reported its Q1 earnings results. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts opened a call with investors by saying Shell’s exit due to “inappropriate relationship” with a subordinate was “obviously a tough moment” adding, “we are so fortunate to have a fabulous and tenured leadership team at NBCUniversal.” “When you go down the list, you’ll see many of them have been leading their divisions within the company for at least 10 years and are the best in the business,” Roberts said. “We are also lucky to have Mike Cavanagh stepped in to help NBCUniversal while also remaining president.”