Jeff Shell Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnerships group has formalized a new executive structure reflecting its recent moves to streamline efforts in broadcast, cable, sports and streaming.

With advertising trends front and center for Wall Street and industry players in the current crop of media earnings, Comcast’s NBC Universal was one of the first to weigh in.

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said execs at the company and parent Comcast are “more confident” than they were a year or two ago that investments in streaming service Peacock will soon yield profits. How soon remains a bit unclear, however.

Streaming service Peacock closed 2022 with more than 20 million paid subscribers, helping Comcast slip past Wall Street estimates during a challenging fourth quarter in the media sector.

NBCUniversal is experiencing scattered layoffs in select divisions as the belt-tightening outlined in 2022 starts to take effect.

Media ratings collective OpenAP, along with national programmers Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount, TelevisaUnivision, and Warner Bros. Discovery and the Video Advertising Bureau have formed a joint committee to push alternatives to Nielsen numbers.

NBC Universal chief Jeff Shell was coy yet clearly jazzed today about the possible merger of prolific horror producers Jason Blum and James Wan’s respective companies — Blumhouse and Atomic Monster – saying “I can’t confirm it,” but, “If that should happen, we are going to be in an absolutely impregnable position.”

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said Peacock has more than 18 million paid subscribers as of today, a nice bump from the 15 million it announced for the quarter ended Sept. 30, driven by programming migrated from Hulu, sports and Universal movies.

A platoon of titles hits the specialty circuit this weekend, getting in ahead of steamroller Avatar: Way of Water and the year-end deadline for Oscar eligibility. This is a soul-searching, what-lies-ahead moment for a market still much too inconsistent for comfort, but that can be pondered later. At the moment, indie distributors are quite busy “with all these movies, and these plans to release theatrically. We are not going anywhere,” said one executive.

Stephen Colbert, Jennifer Garner, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are among the celebrity names expected at tonight’s White House State Dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron.

Subscribers to Peacock’s premium tier will soon have 24/7 access to their local NBC affiliate stations via a dedicated channel on the streaming service.

At 15 million paid subscribers, Peacock isn’t on the same level as other streaming services, but NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell says that’s no accident.

Comcast narrowly beat Wall Street estimates in the third quarter despite volatility in the UK and Europe, tough comparisons with the year-ago Tokyo Olympics quarter and ongoing cord-cutting.

Say goodbye to the 10 p.m. hour of network-controlled broadcast television.

BreAnna Bell Comcast Corporation has promoted Mike Cavanagh to president, making him the third person to occupy the role in the company’s 59-year history. He will continue to serve as chief financial officer in addition to working closely with chairman-CEO Brian Roberts on managing the company’s cable and broadband operations as well as NBCUniversal. “Today’s promotion will come as no surprise – Mike is admired and trusted by those who know and work with him,” Roberts said. “Mike has brought incredible operational and financial expertise to Comcast and is an integral part of our special company. He’s an outstanding partner and together we are focused on continuing to create new and exciting opportunities for growth.”  

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ready to mingle with the Dunder Mifflin gang in virtual reality? Meta, looking to spark broader interest in VR, announced a partnership with NBCUniversal under which the companies will team to bring the media company’s Peacock streaming app and a range of properties to the Meta Quest VR headsets. Meta announced the NBCU pact at Meta Connect 2022, its annual developers conference, alongside other content partnerships and product news. The new VR content from NBCU, set to come to Quest headsets in 2023, will include virtual-reality experiences for hit sitcom “The Office,” Universal Monsters, DreamWorks Animation, Blumhouse and Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Has Peacock regained its forward momentum? NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell claimed the media company’s flagship streamer notched healthy growth in the third quarter — thanks to a strong content lineup, including Peacock’s reclaiming day-after-air rights to episodes of NBCU shows from Hulu. Shell, in an appearance Tuesday on CNBC, said Peacock added more than 2 million paid subscribers in Q3, to top 15 million. Overall, Peacock’s active user accounts is now at 30 million, he said, up more than 3 million in the September quarter. “If you have the right content, and you offer a broad distribution platform, your consumers are going to find you — and that’s what we’re doing with Peacock,” Shell said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSUN VALLEY, Idaho — The Elon Musk watch is on.The first full day of Allen & Co.’s exclusive conference and retreat for the wealthy and well-connected concluded Wednesday at the luxe Sun Valley resort. Even among the assembled 1%-ers, there was anticipation for the arrival of the maverick leader of Tesla and SpaceX, who is expected to make an appearance at the annual meeting of moguls and C-suite titans.Following Tuesday’s many arrivals and some solo morning time, during which Verizon chief Hans Vestberg went for a run around the resort in the 6 a.m.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSUN VALLEY, Idaho — The moguls have arrived.On Tuesday, dozens of titans of the business, media and tech worlds came out to play at the Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho for the start of Allen & Co.’s annual meeting of movers and shakers.The invitation-only conference will include three days of seminars and meetings that are held away from the prying eyes of the public, which kick off Wednesday morning. So today was all about meeting and greeting each other at the posh retreat in Idaho’s picturesque Sawtooth Mountains.Arrivals began at the Sun Valley Lodge around 11 a.m.

NBCUniversal has exceeded last year’s record-setting upfront ad revenue haul north of $7 billion, company insiders said in confirming the finalizing of upfront dealmaking.

It’s Friday and that can mean only one thing, folks: another edition of International Insider. Jesse Whittock here to take you through another week in film and TV.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaRupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall are divorcing after six years of marriage.The 91-year-old media mogul and the 65-year-old model tied the knot in 2016. It was Murdoch’s fourth marriage. He was previously married to Wendi Deng from 1999 to 2013; Anna Maria Torv from 1967 to 1999; and Patricia Booker, from 1956 to 1967.

If there is any blossoming romance between Netflix and NBCUniversal amid speculation the former is looking for an ad sales partner, the latter’s CEO Jeff Shell wasn’t spilling the beans Wednesday when he sat down for a discussion at the Cannes Lions event.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentIllumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri, the driving force between the “Despicable Me” and “Sing” franchises, was welcomed on stage like a rockstar at Barcelona’s CineEurope event on Monday. Founded 15 years ago, Universal’s co-owned animation banner Illumination is finally getting ready for the release “Minions: The Rise of Gru” in theaters on July 1.

Three leading media execs said upfront sales will wrap up shortly with Paramount and NBCUniversal seeing increases in the high single digits, according to CEOs Bob Bakish and Jeff Shell.

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell believes the streaming explosion has only just begun, and he “loves” the tightening of movie release windows to create more efficiencies and better options for consumers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSorry, Comcast Xfinity customers: Your free access to the Peacock Premium streaming service is going to come to an end.Jeff Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal, said that making Peacock available to Comcast cable and broadband customers for no extra charge helped the fledgling streamer achieve traction after it launched in mid-2020, speaking Tuesday at the Credit Suisse 24th Annual Communications Conference. However, “At some point we’ll roll that to paid,” Shell said.Currently, Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex customers are eligible to get Peacock Premium with ads for no additional cost; that’s normally priced at $4.99/month.

Comcast poised to make a big move?The cable and media giant has missed out on some snazzy acquisitions in recent years, failing to outmaneuver Disney to buy the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets and falling just short of nabbing WarnerMedia. Losing out on the latter stunned Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who were enmeshed in planning how WarnerMedia would be integrated into their operations until Discovery landed their prize.And the company has been looking at Electronic Arts, though it appears that efforts to acquire the game-maker have stalled.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTV’s upfront market is starting to close and ad dollars seem harder to collect.NBCUniversal expects the volume of advance advertising commitments secured in the annual haggle to be “in the same range as last year,” according to Jeff Shell, CEO of the Comcast owned unit. He said that declines due to “cord cutting were offset by pricing and Peacock for us,” during remarks made at an investor conference organized by Credit Suisse.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek opened Disney’s upfront in New York by telling the crowd of advertisers in attendance that the company “the most powerful force in the industry” and “the most enduring and beloved name in entertainment.”

In today’s traditional doubleheader opening of the upfronts in New York, Fox and NBCUniversal execs took digs at the “paywall” strategy of Netflix and Disney, in the first of many salvos expected this week.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterAbhijay Prakash has been named president of Blumhouse, the genre juggernaut founded by Jason Blum over twenty years ago.Prakash joins the company from the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, where he served as president under chairman Donna Langley for nearly four years. He will oversee all business aspects at Blumhouse, succeeding veteran executive Charles Layton.Layton has been named vice chairman at the company, and will serve in an advisory role through at least 2024.“From my vantage point at Universal over the years, it was clear that nobody else in the business was as adept at figuring out how to create value from content as the Blumhouse team,” Prakash told Variety.

Total compensation last year for Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts was $33.9 million, up 3.8% from $32.7 million the year before.

NBCUniversal theme parks posted their most profitable fourth quarter ever today, led by Universal Studio Orlando, where Epic Universe is rising.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts reaffirmed the company’s approach to streaming on NBCUniversal’s Peacock, revealing new metrics and signaling a plan to boost spending on programming.

Two top Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have fired off a letter to NBCUniversal, calling for them to answer questions about their concerns that China’s ruling communist party may influence the upcoming coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics.