Gaspin Adds Oversight of Telemundo
Promoted to President and COO of Universal Television Group
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 7/25/2007 1:44:00 PM
Jeff Gaspin sees his new role as president and chief operating officer of Universal Television Group as almost acting like “a traffic cop” in a complicated media world full of different distribution platforms, traditional and digital, for content.
“Right now, we’re in an experimental phase, so we can test things and not worry as much about the financial consequences,” Gaspin said. “But at some point, we have to figure out the right business models that support all of these platforms.”
Gaspin Wednesday was appointed head of Universal Television Group, adding oversight of the Telemundo network, its 16 owned-and-operated TV stations and the company's domestic first-run and off-network syndication efforts under his wing, which already included cable.
With his expanded duties, Gaspin’s portfolio includes units that account for about one-half of NBC Universal’s revenue. Their content can be delivered via a complicated distribution landscape -- one that includes broadcast, cable, satellite, telcos, online and wireless.
“You have to act like a traffic cop, frankly, of content traveling all over all of these distribution platforms,” Gaspin said. “You don’t want to substitute one revenue stream for another. As a company, you want to make them somehow additive. At the same time, you want to serve the consumer by offering them the content when they want it and where they want it … There will be more platforms and more opportunities, and you’ve got to just balance it.”
That’s the rationale for putting all of this programming under one umbrella, according to Gaspin.
“We are a content company,” he said. “We want to serve the customer that content when and where they want it. And we need to create the business models that are additive to the current business models that we have. We felt that the best way to maximize that for both the consumer and for ourselves was to put as much of it under one roof as possible.”
Gaspin has been serving as president of NBC U Cable and Digital Content, a role he assumed in February. Now, he will continue to oversee the television group's distribution including wireless, digital and cable investments. He also continues oversight of NBC U's entertainment cable networks -- Bravo, Chiller, Sci Fi Channel, Sleuth, Universal HD and USA Network -- and their digital extensions, focusing on areas of programming, marketing, strategic planning, synergy and digital entertainment initiatives.
Unlike Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, Universal Television Group has no plans to seek retransmission consent for Telemundo’s TV stations, according to Gaspin.
“Telemundo has opted for must-carry, not retrans,” he said. “Those deals are long-term deals.”
A growing area in syndication has been the selling of cable shows, and Universal Television Group has stuck its toe in that arena already. NBC U Domestic Television Distribution sold USA Network’s Monk to broadcast stations starting in 2008.
It’s a longer process to take a cable show into syndication, Gaspin said, because cable does fewer episodes of a show per year compared with broadcast. So it will usually take six years to accumulate enough episodes of a cable show to syndicate it, versus four years for a broadcast show, he added.
“There haven’t been that many success stories yet in cable syndication,” Gaspin said. “When there are success stories, you will see more of it.”
As part of Wednesday’s changes, Don Browne, who oversees Telemundo, and Barry Wallach, who manages first-run and off-net syndication, will now report to Gaspin. Gaspin, in turn, will continue to report to NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker.
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