Jeff Shell Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

As Comcast manages through the shocking and abrupt exit of NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, the company has put senior exec Mike Cavanagh at the controls on an interim basis.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor After steering NBCUniversal through a global pandemic and a roiling stock market, Jeff Shell in January thought he had some good news for investors: Better times were just around the corner. “I’m pretty confident that we have a lot of growth ahead in NBCUniversal,” he told Wall Street analysts during a recent conference call. He called for new activity at the company’s amusement parks after a long fallow period caused by the COVID pandemic, as well as a boost to paying subscribers at the company’s Peacock streaming hub. Now a different executive will be charged with finding out whether Shell’s projections will come to pass.

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh will take over Jeff Shell’s role at NBCUniversal as the former CEO exited suddenly Sunday after an investigation of inappropriate conduct.

Jeff Shell has been removed as CEO of NBCUniversal effective immediately due to an “inappropriate relationship” with a female employee, according to a statement from parent company Comcast.“Today is my last day as CEO of NBCUniversal,” Shell wrote in a memo to staff. “I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret.

Comcast dropped a bombshell Sunday, announcing that NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is leaving the company, effective immediately. The “mutual” decision comes after an investigation led by outside counsel into a complaint on inappropriate conduct by Shell.

As Comcast NBCUniversal aggressively plans and executes a number of new theme park and destination initiatives, the company announced today a rebrand of its Universal Parks & Resorts unit, which will now be known as Universal Destinations & Experiences.

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.

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.

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.