Jeff Shell Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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.

Olympics in Beijing. The Winter Games are scheduled to open on Feb.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBC Universal chief Jeff Shell attempted once again to throw cold water on deal rumors and speculation that the entertainment business doesn’t have the scale to compete.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTV ratings have fallen, top athletes have dropped out and live crowds aren’t around to cheer, but executives at Comcast still believe in the power of broadcasting the Olympics.“We’ve had some bad luck,” acknowledged Jeff Shell, chief executive of Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which has the rights to telecast the sports extravaganza, during a call with investors on Thursday.

NBCUniversal has closed a record-setting upfront, improving over 2019 levels with an overall advertising haul described by insiders as comfortably north of $7 billion.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBCUniversal gave its strongest indication yet that it would move forward with plans to broadcast 7,000 hours of Tokyo Olympics events even as worries continue over the potential health of attendees and athletes as Japan continues to grapple with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.Jeff Shell, NBCU’s CEO, along with other executives present Wednesday at an event designed to preview the company’s plans, suggested a global audience was eager to emerge from an

“Here in Los Angeles, it’s a big day tomorrow,” said NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Shell, with California set to drop most pandemic restrictions.

NBCUniveral chief Jeff Shell plugged the studio to talent and called theatrical releases crucial to the business. He also said movies may be more profitable post-pandemic, and that Peacock is “misunderstood” since it’s was really designed to complement existing businesses.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe CEO of NBCUniversal said the company enjoyed robust demand in the TV industry’s upfront market, but offered no tangible detains on volume or pricing to help bolster his case.“It was the strongest upfront I think probably in the history of NBCUniversal,” said Jeff Shell, NBCU’s CEO, speaking during an investor conference with Credit Suisse Monday. “We saw results in this upfront far beyond what we thought we’d see.

NBCUniversal has wrapped its upfront advertising sales for the upcoming season, describing it as a “watershed moment and a clear signal that everything has changed.”

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell's 2020 compensation reached $16.5 million. NBCU owner and cable giant Comcast disclosed his and other top executives' pay for the most recent year in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell took in $16.5 million in total compensation, while his boss, Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts raked in a staggering $32.7 million.The generous pay packages come despite the fact that much of NBCUniversal’s business of making and distributing movies and turning those properties into theme park rides was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also resulted in thousands of layoffs.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts’ total pay package came in at $32.7 million last year, down from $36.4 in 2019.

The Office is now streaming at a new home – and it’s doing big numbers!

NBCUniversal streaming service Peacock has reached 33 million sign-ups, parent company Comcast said on Thursday in its latest earnings update. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell had told an investor conference in early December that streamer Peacock had exceeded 26 million sign-ups at that time.

The Office is being more actively streamed on Peacock than it was on Netflix, according to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell.

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and NBCUniversal chief Jeff Shell are upbeat the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will go forward as planned and said advertisers are optimistic as well, based on what they’re seeing.

EXCLUSIVE: NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell didn’t mince words about the “bad dream” that was 2020, but touted the success of Peacock and laid out a string of streaming stats in a holiday-season memo to employees.