Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, sat for an interview at a Paley Media Council event in New York December 5. It was a friendly face conducting the interview, as Hoda Kotb, co-anchor of Today and co-host of Today with Hoda & Jenna, sat next to him. 

Lazarus spoke about managing broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, and mentioned “one big content budget” for sports, news and entertainment. Some executives are tasked with finding the best content and others with deciding which platform it runs on. 

“What’s the best content and where can it be successful in our portfolio?” he said. “It’s a combination of art and commerce.”

He called NBC “our flagship” and “the way we reach the most people.” The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade did huge numbers, Lazarus said, and Sunday Night Football is averaging 22 million viewers.  

Broadcast numbers are not nearly what they used to be, but Lazarus made the case that they are still substantial. “We reach massive amounts of people, we have reach and scale,” he said during the event at the Paley Center for Media’s Paley Museum in New York. “That’s great for our distribution partners and that’s great for our advertising partners and it’s really important for our audience.”

NBCU has some 65-70 million pay TV subscribers and 30 million more on Peacock. “We have roughly 95-100 million homes paying us a subscription fee for the value we provide,” he said. “That’s a big number.”

The relationship between programmers and distributors, he said, is “complicated.”

Lazarus added, “It’s more complicated than it’s ever been because there is stress on all of us, stress on our systems.”

Sports rights fees, he said, are no longer defying gravity. “For 30 years everyone said, the sports [rights] bubble is gonna burst, it’s gonna burst. You’re starting to see rights fees growth moderate.”

Kotb, referring to Lazarus as “Laz,” asked to what degree awards shows still command a mass audience. Lazarus responded, “Over the last four or five years, as the awards shows became platforms for people to put out their own views on topics, some of the Middle America audience that clamored for that celebrity maybe got tired of the preachiness of it.”

He called the ratings slide unfortunate. “It was one of those great celebratory moments that people gathered around,” he added. 

Kotb noted that the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris might be another TV event people gather around for. Lazarus agreed. “I think Paris has a real chance,” said Lazarus, citing the “outstanding” setting and some new approaches from the organizers, such as an opening ceremony that will see the athletes on boats, floating down the Seine, with hundreds of thousands of spectators on land, watching and cheering. “It should be an extraordinary scene,” he said. 

Lazarus shared about ducking out of school as a teen to attend the 1980 Games in Lake Placid. “That’s really what put me in love with the Olympic Games,” he said. 

Kotb asked about Taylor Swift turning up at NFL games, and Lazarus said the pop star was likely a ratings catalyst early on, but not so much these days. “I do believe the first one, she helped drive the ratings,” he said. “I think that’s good for the league. For the first couple weeks she was the most popular player in the league, and she did not have to play a down.”

Asked about role models, Lazarus mentioned his father, and shared about how he began at NBCUniversal on the day Comcast closed on its acquisition of it. “The mentality chairman/CEO Brian Roberts and former NBC CEO Steve Burke brought to the place was, ‘We want everybody to act like owners, not renters,” ” Lazarus said. “Respect the place, respect each other.” 

On a personal note, Lazarus said he loves watching Bravo’s Below Deck and new NBC drama Found, which just got a second season order. “It’s a little creepy but it’s really good,” he said of the drama. 

He also plugged Jon Cryer comedy Extended Family, which debuts December 23. 

He referred to working in television as working in “the toy department of the world.”

Lazarus continued, “All my friends who don’t work in this business, what they talk about mostly is what we do in this business.”

Management changes are coming at NBCUniversal as it works to coordinate its linear and non-linear businesses, according to Jeff Shell, who became CEO of Comcast’s NBCU earlier this year.

Speaking on Comcast’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday, Shell noted that NBCU combined its television and streaming businesses under Mark Lazarus, who was named chairman, NBCU Television and Streaming in May.

“Mark is finalizing a new structure that will demonstrate the unique way we intend to manage this business going forward,” Shell said. “We will announce the structure soon.”

Related: Peacock Set to Launch to Comcast Subscribers

Shell noted that NBCU could not be more pleased with the launch of its new streaming service Peacock, which launched to Comcast subscribers in April and became available nationwide two weeks ago and has already registered 10 million signups.

“Not only are more people signing up than we projected, but they are watching more frequently and engaging much longer than we projected," he said. He noted that there was more movie watching than expected.

He noted that more programming would be coming to Peacock in January, including exclusive rights to The Office.

Next year, Peacock will be able to take advantage of NBCU’s coverage of the Tokyo summer Olympics, which were postponed, as well as the winter Olympics from Beijing a few months later.

“We feel very encouraged,” he said.

Shell noted that the company believes it can get its production of scripted programming going again later this summer.

“When combined with sports that are returning, we will have a full schedule of fresh and compelling programming on our various platforms in the fall,” he said. "At the same time, he said upfront conversation are in full swing and the ad market "is coming back more rapidly than we anticipated."

With about two months to go before the broad release of its Peacock streaming service, NBCUniversal has shaken up its television organizational structure, placing its cable, broadcast and streaming businesses under one roof headed by long-time executive Mark Lazarus.

According to NBCU, the new unit, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, will house NBC Entertainment, Spanish-language network Telemundo, its cable channels (USA Network, Bravo, SYFY, Oxygen, E! And Universal Kids), international networks and Peacock. Lazarus, who a little more than a year ago was named to head up NBCU’s broadcast, cable sports and news units, maintains responsibility for NBC Sports Group, its owned-and-operated TV stations and affiliate relations.

NBCU soft launched Peacock on April 15 to Comcast XFinity, Flex and Cox subscribers. Company executives said last week that debut has fared better than expected, but has not changed plans for a broader launch on July 15. 

“This is the right structure to lead NBCUniversal into the future during this transformational time in the industry,” said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell in a press release. “Mark has a proven track record across every aspect of our television business from sports to local stations to entertainment. He is the ideal leader to oversee our television and streaming portfolio in this newly formed division, which allows us to have a more unified approach to our content strategy.”

The new structure means that NBC News chief Andrew Lack has decided to step down and will leave the company at the end of the month. Taking his place in the newly created role of chairman, NBCUniversal News Group (encompassing NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC) is former Telemundo chief Cesar Conde. A replacement for Conde at Telemundo will be named at a later date. Until that time, Telemundo’s leadership team will report directly to Lazarus.

“Cesar is a well-respected, strategic leader who has succeeded in multiple roles at NBCUniversal since joining the company in 2013,” Shell said in the press release. “Most recently, Cesar has overseen unprecedented growth at Telemundo, which under his leadership has become the number one Spanish-language network, and through its news division has played a critical role in the expansion of news operations, breaking news coverage and trailblazing political reporting. Cesar’s valuable and relevant experience leading broadcast networks and news divisions, combined with his high degree of integrity and proven management skills, make him the right person to lead our news group into the future.”

Both Lazarus and Conde report directly to Shell. NBC News president Noah Oppenheim; MSNBC president Phil Griffin; and CNBC chairman Mark Hoffman will now report to Conde. 

Rounding out the NBCUniversal senior management team, the following executives continue to report directly to Shell:

• Matt Bond, Chairman, Content Distribution

• Bonnie Hammer, Chairman of NBCUniversal Content Studios

• Kim Harris, EVP and General Counsel

• Kathy Kelly-Brown, SVP, Strategic Initiatives

• Anand Kini, EVP and Chief Financial Officer

• Donna Langley, Chairman, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group

• Ron Meyer, Vice Chairman

• Adam Miller, EVP

• Craig Robinson, EVP and Chief Diversity Officer

• Tom Williams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Universal Parks & Resorts

• Linda Yaccarino, Chairman of Advertising Sales & Client Partnerships

Under the new structure, the following executives will lead businesses reporting to Lazarus:

• Frances Berwick, President, Lifestyle Networks

• Ken Bettsteller, President, International Networks

• Peter Bevacqua, President, NBC Sports Group

• Philip Martzolf, President, NBCUniversal Affiliate Relations

• Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks

• Valari Staab, President, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations

• Matt Strauss, Chairman of Peacock

• Paul Telegdy, Chairman, NBC Entertainment

Five months after being named NBC Sports Group President, Pete Bevacqua has expanded his role to include oversight of the entire NBC Sports Group portfolio, the company said Thursday.

Bevacqua, who had been managing programming, marketing, digital, golf and the NBC Sports Regional Networks, will now add the NBC Olympics, as well as production and operations to his list of responsibilities, according to NBC. 

Bevacqua will continue to report to NBC broadcast, cable, sports and news chairman Mark Lazarus, who recently added oversight of NBCUniversal’s East Coast-based content businesses, including NBC News Group, CNBC and the Cable Entertainment portfolio, in addition to NBC Sports Group, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations and NBC Affiliate Relations.

“Pete’s impact to NBC Sports and to our Company in general has been significant and immediate,” said Lazarus. “He is a proven leader in the sports industry, and complements our talented team.”

(Updated on June 8)

The NBC Sports Group is in the midst of its "championship season" and Mark Lazarus is a man on the move.

Over the next week, Comcast’s sports programming unit is televising the French Open Tennis Championships, the NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers, the U.S. Open Golf Championship and the Belmont Stakes, where California Chrome is looking to become thoroughbred racing’s first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

“This is the sweet spot of our championship season. We’re televising the French Open championships in Paris and perhaps a Triple Crown Winner in horse racing.  We’re covering the Stanley Cup Final and the U.S. Open,” said Lazarus in a phone interview from Roland Garros during the second women’s semifinal won by Romania's fast-rising Simona Halep over Andrea Petkovic. That sets up the championship Saturday contest against Maria Sharapova, followed by mega men’s matchup between eight-time winner Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, looking to complete a career Grand Slam and reclaim the No. 1 ranking, on Sunday morning.

It was a fitting time for Lazarus – who was flying back to New York for the Belmont on June 7; will attend Game 3 of the NHL championship series at Madison Square Garden on Monday night; and then head to North Carolina for the U.S. Open golf at Pinehurst No. 2 --- to look back over the past half year that has seen the programmer crown a number of achievements.

“It’s been an incredible six months," said Lazarus.

Over that time, NBC Sports Group, among other milestones, concluded its first year with soccer's Barclays Premier League; tackled a third straight TV season primetime triumph with Sunday Night Football; won 18 consecutive nights with the Sochi Winter Olympics, before grabbing the rights to another six-pack of Games; renewed its Kentucky Derby coverage for a decade; and saw NBCSN ring up its best-ever primetime performance in May, as the network is topping Fox Sports 1 with the Nielsens.

The discussion on Thursday, though, turned first to the Belmont,

With 15.3 million and 9.6 million viewers for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, respectively, NBC is expecting a big Nielsen finish for the latest run at the Triple Crown by the horse with modest bloodlines.

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Asked if NBC might lose potential ratings appeal in the future if California Chrome wins on Saturday and ends a 36-year Triple Crown drought, Lazarus replied. “I don’t think you worry about that. Anytime there is potential for something great, you want to be part of chronicling history. That’s something NBC Sports has been doing over the past 50, 60 years.” (California Chrome finished fourth, but NBC averaged 20.6 million watchers, the second most for the race on record (since 1988) behind the 21.9 million viewers for Smarty Jones' Triple Crown attempt in 2004.)

Lazarus would also like to make sure the Belmont and the Preakness remain part of NBC’s rights stable past the 2015 races.  After securing a 10-year extension with Churchill Downs on Feb. 26, NBC Sports Group has turned its thoroughbred intentions to the second and third legs of the Triple Crown.

“The Preakness and Belmont have been great partners. We’ve shown our capabilities around these events and are having good discussions,” he said.

On the ice, NBC is looking to cap a season highlighted by the 2014 Winter Classic tying for the best NHL regular-season rating in 39 years, the success of the Stadium Series and the top full-season viewership on NBC and NBCSN with the puck sport.

“Having New York and Los Angeles in the first championship series since 1981 [Yankees-Dodgers] is a great story,” said Lazarus. “We’re excited to be part of it, and are hoping for a long, action-packed series.”

While it may not have the pedigree as fervid puck markets like Chicago, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh, “LA is waking up as a hockey town,” said Lazarus, who will be in the MSG crowd when the Broadway Blueshirts entertain the Kings on June 9.

The opening game – a 3-2 overtime win by the Kings at the Staple Center -- netted 4.78 million viewers, the second most since NBC began airing the Stanley Cup Final in 2006. It was down 25%,, though. from the 6.36 million for the triple OT match between the Bruins and Blackhawks last year.  Airing out of the Belmont, the second game of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final averaged 6.4 million, up 34% from Wednesday's Game 1 and well above the 4 million that watched last year's second game, which aired on cable network NBCSN. S

NBC, which vaulted to the top spot in broadcast for the first time in decade during the just-finished TV season, was aided in large part by the medium’s top show, Sunday Night Football, which averaged 21.4 million viewers during its 2013 NFL campaign.

“We’re blessed to have a great schedule with the NFL. And I may be biased, but our presentation with [producer] Fred Gaudelli, with Al [Michaels], Cris [Collinsworth] and Michelle [Tafoya] is the best. That started with my predecessor Dick Ebersol; it was his brainchild,” said Lazarus. SNF has won six consecutive Sports Emmys for outstanding live sports series; no other show has placed more than three in a row on the mantle.

He said the appeal of the show crosses teams and genders: “Sunday Night Football is accessible. Not only is it the No. 1 show, but it’s the No. 1 show with women as well.”

Beginning next season, NBC will add a divisional NFL playoff game to its lineup and will televise Super Bowl XLIX.

Lazarus also talked about what the rest of the world calls football.  He said NBC Sports Group's first season coverage of the Barclays Premier League, which featured 40 matches in 12 days around the turn of 2013-14 calendar, culminated on May 11 with “Championship Sunday.” That's when all 10 of the U.K. circuit’s matches appeared on NBCU networks, marking the first time all of those games were televised simultaneously on linear TV in the U.S. All told,  NBC Sports Group's coverage of the campaign scored with a U.S. record 32 million viewers.

As is the case with the NHL, NBCSN stands as the Premier League’s primary Stateside outlet. Coupled with action from Formula 1 and Indy Car circuits, and a record-setting daytime run with the Sochi Olympics, the 83-million subscriber network has rung up nine consecutive months of year-over-year growth. “That defies media gravity in this day and age,” said Lazarus.

Over the course, those deliveries have boosted NBCSN’s fortunes in the battle for sports fans’ eyeballs with Fox Sports 1, behind cable leader ESPN. Since FS1 launched on Aug. 17, NBCSN has averaged 322,000 viewers in primetime compared with 278,000 for FS1, according to Nielsen data through June 4. It total day, NBCSN averaged 155,000 viewers to 111,000 for FS1. Bolstered by the second and third rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, NBCSN averaged 1.1 million primetime viewers in May, the most in its history and the first time it cracked the seven-figure average, according to live +same-day data from Nielsen. 

Lazarus hopes to keep the audience needle revving for NBCSN, which launched weekday show NASCAR America on Feb. 24, when it adds Sprint Cup and Nationwide series racing during 2015, as the stock car circuit rejoins NBC Sports Group under a 10-year deal.

Acknowledging that NASCAR Nielsens have been “a touch down the past couple of years,” Lazarus noted that “they’re still big numbers.” He said fans/viewers are there on Saturdays and Sundays for the races, and with qualifying and practice throughout the week.

“This is a passionate, loyal fan base,” he said. “NASCAR is a great addition for us and we will look to add our big event culture to the coverage.”

Meanwhile, the Olympics will continue to be part of the Comcast-NBCU culture for 20 more years. On May 7, the company announced it had secured the rights for the six quadrennials starting in 2022 and ending with the Summer Games in 2032, for some $7.7 billion.

Lazarus called the Olympics “a melding of technology, platforms and media” for Comcast NBCUniversal. When asked about the Games' staying power/appeal a generation from now, Lazarus believes the event will still rise above the fray.  “The Olympics are a very valuable global property,” he said. “It’s rare when something can unite people of all nationalities, and we believe that Americans will continue to feel that way."

Golf Channel, which has been on a three-year ratings run of its own, will be in the mix from Pinehurst with 57 hours of news and analysis, flanking the 19 hours of Golf Channel on NBC coverage of the U.S. Open. next week.(This will be NBC's last U.S. Open Golf Championship, at least for a while: Fox holed a 12-year rights deal, starting with the 2015 tourney.)

Golf Channel Films will set the stage with Payne, a remembrance of the late Payne Stewart on the 15th anniversary of his U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst. The doc, airing on Sunday, June 8 at 5 p.m. on NBC and Monday, June 9 at 10 p.m. on Golf Channel, comes on the heels of the critical and ratings success the cable channel enjoyed with Arnie, the three-part film about the legendary golfer and channel co-founder Arnold Palmer, whom Lazarus calls "a great friend of the network."

Lazarus said viewers can expect more docs from Golf: “We’re looking to things that make sense and where there are the right opportunities.”