NBCU’s layoffs continue as Susan Rovner’s entertainment team revealed

NBCUniversal’s Susan Rovner has made a raft of appointments to her new-look entertainment team, with 50 layoffs coming as a result of merging its TV and streaming divisions.

Rovner left Warner Bros. to become chairman of entertainment at NBCU last year, subsequently appointing Lisa Katz to become president of scripted.

Rod Aissa and Jenny Groom were named as unscripted presidents at the same time, and now the execs under those genre leaders have been confirmed.

Drama & comedy

Katz has appointed Cara Dellaverson and Alex Sepiol as EVP’s of drama series in Rovner’s entertainment content division, with a remit to oversee development and current programming. Dellaverson was previously EVP of drama programming while Sepiol was EVP of scripted development.

Susan Rovner

Former SVP of comedy development, Jeff Meyerson, becomes EVP of comedy series, while Michael Sluchan – who had been EVP of current scripted – has been named EVP of current series and co-productions. His remit includes kids programming and features.

Unscripted

Aissa and Groom have also had their senior teams confirmed. Aissa, whose remit includes talent competitions and gameshows, has named former CBS exec Sharon Vuong as SVP of unscripted development.

Former VP of alternative & development Shelby Shaftel has been named SVP of unscripted programming, while Aissa’s lifestyle team includes Shari Levine as EVP of current production and former Bravo exec Rachel Smith leads on development.

Departures, content & scheduling

The changes will see around 50 employees from the company’s content teams departing, as well as some in acquisitions, scheduling and marketing. These include NBCU’s current programming EVP Bruce Evans and Dan Shear, EVP of comedy development at Peacock, according to US reports.

The new-look team follows months of turbulence at NBCU, following Mark Lazarus’s wholesale revamp of the company’s operations to focus on streamer Peacock, which has already seen senior execs including the streamer’s head of originals Bill McGoldrick departing.

As per Rovner’s remit, the execs below her now oversee all of NBCU’s entertainment content for Peacock, broadcast network NBC and the company’s swathe of cablenets, including Oxygen, USA, Syfy, Bravo, E! And Universal Kids.

Her division works in parallel with execs under former lifestyle networks president Frances Berwick, who was promoted last year. She now heads up NBCU’s television entertainment business.