The television business has a habit of repeating itself.
Five years after NBC Entertainment and Universal Television were separated in a realignment that combined all NBCUniversal TV production divisions into Universal Studio Group, the broadcast network and studio are back together — along with the rest of USG — under one creative executive, USG chairman Pearlena Igbokwe, who will now also oversee Peacock scripted. The restructuring by NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios chairman Donna Langley, which includes Frances Berwick running Bravo and Peacock unscripted, with Lisa Katz expected to continue overseeing NBC and Peacock scripted under Igbokwe, feels like vertical integration 2.0 in the era of streaming.
It is a throwback to times over the past two and a half decades when ABC and ABC Studios, NBC and Universal TV, CBS and then-Paramount Network TV and Fox and 20th Television were run by the same executive — or pair of executives as was the case of Dana Walden and Gary Newman overseeing Fox and 20th TV.
Observers are generally not surprised by the move.
“Vertical integration makes a lot of financial sense, and these are tough financial times,” one industry source said, adding, “I think it’s a way to get rid of expensive bodies and to create a unified vision for a corporation.”
The person cautioned that “everybody’s made that mistake where they don’t have a church and state kind of setup, and you end up making decisions that you wouldn’t normally make if you had somebody watching out for the studio bottom line or for the interest of the network.”
Another veteran executive agrees. “By having a studio team and a network team, you have two sides trying to come to the best answer in terms of budgets, in terms of how long shows should be.”
Having dual responsibilities is hard on development executives too. They could spend time and energy supporting a writer on their studio roster through the creation of a show to then put a network/streamer hat on and tell the same writer that they are passing on the project as a buyer.
Pure streamers like Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+ all have the platform and the in-house studio under the same top executives though an industry source noted that even a company like Netflix has two groups managing its content: production teams and the ones that commission the shows.
The Great Scripted Divide
Before today’s restructuring, NBCUniversal’s creative oversight had been split into two lanes, studio: USG, and platforms: NBC, Peacock as well as the entertainment cable networks, some of which will soon leave NBCUniversal as part of SpinCo.
Disney has had a similar divide: Disney Television Studios under Eric Schrier and Disney Television Group under Craig Erwich, though the lines have been sometimes blurry. (There is also the legacy carveout of FX under John Landgraf.)
Similarly, CBS and CBS Studios have been run by separate creative teams led by Amy Reisenbach and David Stapf, respectively, with the two divisions sharing current operations. (All traditional media companies have functions, including marketing, that run across networks and studios.)
The various studios at Paramount Global currently determine their output for Paramount+, something that is expected to change after the company’s acquisition by Skydance, with Netflix alumna Cindy Holland tipped to lead a team that would commission content for the streamer.
Fox, which had some combined network and studio operations, split them in a restructuring last year, with Michael Thorn overseeing network and Fernando Szew heading studios.
Warner Bros. Discovery was the only company before NBCU to take a step toward partial vertical integration by adding its entertainment cable networks to the purview of Warner Bros. TV Group chairman Channing Dungey, though that consolidation may not be permanent as WBD also is exploring a spinoff of its cable assets.
What makes things trickier for traditional media companies is that, while tech-based streamers only produce for themselves, legacy studios also sell outside, sometimes providing hits to networks and platforms that compete with their own. As Igbokwe takes over NBC, her studio continues to produce a stable of dramas for rival CBS with the FBIs and The Equalizer as well as Hacks for WBD’s Max in addition to NBC mainstays like One Chicago. Disney’s 20th TV is behind CBS’ hit Tracker and Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, Warner Bros. TV behind Apple TV+s Ted Lasso.
Still, even if they expect growing pains, industry sources called the new NBCU setup a marked improvement over the previous structure, which “created tension and dysfunction” by having “buyers, sellers and platform people that thought they were commissioning the content, like Kelly Campbell,” an insider said, referring to the former Peacock president who exited ahead of the current realignment.
Igbokwe also is getting thumbs-up for the new, expanded role due to her studio background.
“I think it is much tougher on a company when you consolidate like that under the former network team, because they don’t have a keen understanding of what the needs are on the production side, and a studio person can see it better from both sides,” a long-time TV executive said.
However, another network exec disagreed. “There is an arrogance or a cluelessness from the studio side where they generally think network executives are just suits and that they’re not creative and they don’t know what they’re doing. Studio execs say we don’t buy the right shows, but what they mean is that we don’t buy their shows.”
Unscripted Changes
One of the biggest questions to emerge from the restructure is around unscripted programming.
Igbokwe will oversee unscripted for NBC Entertainment, while Berwick will do the same across Bravo and Peacock including documentaries, true crime, and shows such as The Traitors and Love Island.
This new setup led to the departure of Corie Henson, who was EVP, Unscripted Content, Competition and Game Shows, NBCUniversal Entertainment.
The decision to split scripted and unscripted at Peacock under Igbokwe and Berwick is getting a less than enthusiastic reaction, with sources arguing that Igbokwe could’ve taken on that area too since she is already doing NBC unscripted.
“I don’t think it’s ideal”, an industry veteran said, noting that one leader across genres who “has the flexibility to make decisions holistically” would be a better solution.
In the absence of that, there may be a need for an arbiter, with Igbokwe and Berwick’s boss, Langley, as the logical choice.
Henson was in charge of The Traitors and Love Island as well as NBC’s The Voice, America’s Got Talent, Deal or No Deal Island, Weakest Link and Jimmy Fallon’s That’s My Jam – essentially anything based on a format or with a cash prize.
“Wait until Donna and Pearlena get under the hood at NBC and see that it’s not Found and The Irrational that are holding the network up, but rather it’s America’s Got Talent and The Voice,” one source told Deadline.
Many reporting structure pieces are still to be worked out. For instance, it’s not clear who Rachel Smith, who is EVP, Unscripted Content, Lifestyle & Documentaries, will report to. Given Smith, who was on the same level as Henson, has worked on Bravo series such as The Real Housewives franchise and the Below Deck universe; one would assume she would continue reporting to Berwick.
Similarly, it’s not clear who Henson’s team, which includes Sharon Vuong, who is EVP, Alternative Programming and Development, Jenny Ramirez, who is SVP, Entertainment Unscripted Alternative Programming, Shelby Shaftel, who is SVP, Unscripted Series and Development and Kristina Edwards, who is VP, Current Series and Development, will report to given that they work across NBC, Peacock and the cable networks.
Henson has recently bought a tranche of shows. These include a new Jimmy Fallon jam called Branded, a high-profile cooking show and a game show pilot – It Takes A Village – hosted by Anna Faris and Rick Edwards that is shooting this month.
Henson’s departure was met with fury and frustration from producers and agents. She is a popular figure within the unscripted community – look at the comments below her exit story calling her a “rockstar” and “one of the good ones”.
The former Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox exec worked closely with Universal Television Alternative Studio on projects such as Destination X, its upcoming adventure series. There was a rumor going around that studio chief Toby Gorman, who works closely with Igbokwe, would have a hand in commissioning, but the company has said that this is not true.
Sources point out that vertical integration isn’t necessarily a bad idea on the unscripted side – much like how it worked under former NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy and former alternative chief Meredith Ahr.
“That’s the only way you can align everyone’s priorities. Otherwise, it’s a flawed system and the business model doesn’t make any sense. I guess NBC will either figure it out or they won’t,” added another source.
Industry insiders are divided over whether NBCU’s restructuring would usher another wave of vertical integration. Even if others follow, the consensus is that there will likely continue to be a mix of companies integrating studios and platforms, keeping them separate or finding a balance in-between.