Matt Strauss and Donna Langley have been named to top roles at the new NBCUniversal, a move that pairs a business executive well-versed in the world of streaming with a creative chief who has helped build and develop critical cinema franchises to help chart a new course for the venerable entertainment brand.
Strauss, who will become chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, has been with Comcast for 20 years, and will oversee the company’s Peacock streaming business, as well NBC Sports, ad sales, distribution, research and affiliate relations. Many of these were functions supervised by Mark Lazarus, who has been named CEO of a new spin-off company that will run the bulk of Comcast’s cable networks.
Langley, who has been with the company’s film operations for a similar period of time, will become Chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios. She will be tasked with greenlighting decisions tied to programming and marketing across the company, including TV assets such as NBC and Bravo, as well as Peacock, and will continue to oversee the global creative strategy, business operations, production, acquisitions, marketing, and distribution for the company’s film and TV studio operations.
The duo take oversight of a significantly smaller media operation that Comcast executives are betting will fare better without the burden of a passel of large cable networks that, while still profitable, are in decline. More TV viewers are migrating to streaming services that offer the opportunity to watch their video favorites on demand, at times of their own choosing — largely negating the need for stand-alone cable networks that cultivate niches among business-news fans or true-crime aficionados.
“The future NBCUniversal will have nearly $40 billion in annual revenues, making it one of the largest media companies in the world,” said Mike Cavanagh, president of Comcast in a memo sent Wednesday to staffers. Within Comcast, the new focus is for NBCUniversal to focus more on the content that fuels streaming and broadband usage — a key business of Comcast’s large cable and connectivity division.
Strauss has built a career out of testing emerging technologies. Before joining Comcast in 2004, he led an on-demand service for the former Rainbow Media called Mag Rack that offered on-demand programing from an array of niche interests, including gardening, fitness and even dogs. At Comcast, he helped develop Xfinfity, the branded cable service that offers many interactive perks, including a voice remote and the ability to stream video in multiple devices around the home.
Langley, meanwhile, has helped build and expand massive content franchises. During her tenure at Universal, the company has enjoyed the benefits of “Fast & Furious,” “Jurassic World” and a series of animated hits from the Illumination studio, including “Despicable Me” and its “Minions” offshoots. Langley’s tenure has also seen the development of “The Purge” films, as well as movies around “Fifty Shades of Grey” and “Mamma Mia!”
She began her career as a production executive at New Line Cinema, moving to Universal Pictures in 2001 as senior vice president of production.
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