Hired Help: Comcast Hires Weisman To Improve Program Quality
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Comcast Hires Weisman To Improve
Quality Of Sports Networks |
Comcast has hired Producer Mike Weisman as a consultant to "improve the quality" of Golf Channel, Versus, its eight RSNs, the mtn. and CSS, according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. Comcast Programming Group President Jeff Shell said that the hiring of Weisman was made because of the growth of both Golf Channel, which in '07 began airing PGA Tour coverage, and Versus, which has "made a transition from a hunting and fishing channel to a diverse network." Shell: "We don't have someone responsible for everything that goes on over the air. If you look at what goes on over the air, it's respectable, but not memorable. We want it to be memorable." Weisman: "I told Jeff the same thing I told [NBC Universal Sports & Olympics Chair Dick] Ebersol about the 'Football Night' studio. 'I don't know if I can help your ratings or your profitability, but I can make you better.'" Sandomir notes one of Weisman's responsibilities will be to "create a studio show at Versus." Shell: "We have a foundation at Versus, but we need a studio show to tie it all together" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/17).
FOLLOW THE LEADER: In Connecticut, Peter Healy reports Versus plans to leave its Stamford HQ's in June and relocate to Philadelphia, where Comcast is based. Versus Senior VP/Marketing & Promotions Bill Bergofin said that the net will keep its TV studio and offices at Stamford's Harbor Plaza complex, which has 50 full-time employees and a "number of free-lance production personnel." Bergofin: "We just built a beautiful state-of-the-art HD studio in Harbor Plaza. It makes all the sense in the world to keep producing our shows from this area." Bergofin added that while Versus does not have an exact number, they expect a "high percentage of the 50 [HQs] employees to take jobs in Philadelphia" (Stamford ADVOCATE, 4/17).
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