Mike Cavanagh, the president of Comcast who was recently named the de-facto head of NBC Universal, said the company remains “committed to reaching a fair deal [with actors and writers] as soon as possible, so we can get back to doing what we do best, which is making great content together.”
In a change, he kicked off the media giant’s post-earnings conference call today instead of CEO Brian Roberts. The hands-on chief executive spoke very little this time.
Disney CEO Bob Iger was excoriated by guild members for recent comments on CNBC calling the demands of striking guilds “unreasonable.”
Cavanagh, a former banker who works closely with Roberts, added oversight of NBCU in April after the suden departure of Jeff Shell and has just restructured the entertainment business under four top executives with Donna Langley in the top studios chair. Asked to elaborate a bit more on the strike, and its impact on Peacock in particular, Cavanagh reiterated: “We are committed to reaching a fair deal with the guilds as soon as possible. Beyond that, you know, I’d just say it’s really, for all involved in the industry broadly, a prolonged work stoppage and the longer it goes, the worse it will be [and it] is obviously going to have a negative impact all around.”
Cavanagh called the financial impact of the work stoppage “manageable,” at least for now. The strikes “will shift studio working capital out of the near term… So probably, for 2023, a little bit lower working capital and higher cash flow, and the flip side of that in 2024.”
It won’t change NBCU’s strategy, he said. What is that? “We’re going to be very much focused on creating great content. We already do create great content, when you look at the movie slates we’ve had and the TV that we produce for ourselves and others. I think that strategy is going to continue. We’re not going to be creating content exclusively for ourselves. I think it’s a great advantage for our studios to actually have platforms that can take a substantial amount, though not all, of the content that we’re able to create. … In terms of cost and strategy and so forth, we will work in the context of the industry and the buyers and what they’re looking for and be responsive to that. But I feel very good about the way our studio businesses are set up.”
As for Peacock, “I wouldn’t point out anything in particular related to strikes and its effect in 2023 or the second half of the year.”
Moving into 2024 and beyond if the strikes are prolonged, he said the impact will obiviously be more pronounced — but “it would be for ourselves and others — so a level playing field.”
More to come…
Content Source: deadline.com