One of WWE’s allies at NBCUniversal has resigned as CEO

As WWE prepares to begin negotiations with NBCUniversal over its next media rights deal, it was announced on Sunday via a press release that NBCU CEO Jeff Shell has resigned…

“PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Comcast today announced that the Company and Jeff Shell, Chief Executive Officer of NBCUniversal, have mutually agreed that Mr. Shell will depart effective immediately following the Company’s investigation led by outside counsel into a complaint of inappropriate conduct.

Mr. Shell said, “Today is my last day as CEO of NBCUniversal. I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret. I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business and the opportunity to work with them the last 19 years has been a privilege.”

During Comcast’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 earnings, Shell gave praise to WWE…

“WWE is a kind of a perfect property for us. (The streaming deal includes) thousands of hours of programming that were behind a paywall that we’ll now put up as a free service on Peacock, which will not only enhance the brand of WWE but we can monetize (through) advertising. We get the events that were behind the paywall that used to be pay-per-view to drive our $4.99 premium version of Peacock.” (quote courtesy of Yahoo.com)