Several changes are hitting NBC's affiliate relations department, which negotiates cable carriage and retransmission consent deals. NBC is close to hiring Cablevision's top programming exec, Mac Budill, according to several sources. It's not clear what Budill's title will be, but he will be given a top spot in NBC's affiliate relations department. Budill had been with Cablevision for more than 20 years, rising to Exec VP/Programming. While at Cablevision, Budill was instrumental in cutting a deal with NFL Network earlier this summer. It's not clear what his new role will be in NBC's affiliate division, but sources say he will report to NBCU's head of content distribution Matt Bond.
Word of Budill's hiring comes as NBCUniversal's President of TV Network Distribution Bridget Baker announced her plans to leave the company after 24 years. Media trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable obtained an internal memo from Bond saying that Baker will leave at the end of next month. These moves come as NBC is preparing to negotiate with some of the country's biggest distributors. NBC's deals with Dish Network, Charter and the NCTC expire at the end of the year, according to several sources. Those deals include most NBC networks, including NBC Sports Network, and several retransmission consent deals for NBC-owned broadcast stations. Neither Cablevision nor NBCU would comment for this story.
