Ahead of NBCUniversal‘s forthcoming spin-off from Comcast, the media company has named Christopher Halpin as chief financial officer.

Halpin, who had been serving as COO and CFO of People Inc., will report to Comcast Co-CEO Mike Cavanagh, who is slated to become CEO of NBCU after the separation. Halpin will start his new post on September 8.

Comcast has said the split with NBCU should be completed by next summer. As it did with Versant, which is now a separate, publicly traded company, Comcast will be taking steps toward establishing NBCU as its own stand-alone entity.

Randy Culbertson, who is currently CFO of NBCU, “will remain a key part of NBCUniversal’s leadership team and will transition to a new role, which will be announced in the coming weeks,” the company said in a press release. 

At People, formerly IAC, Halpin oversaw corporate finance, accounting, M&A, investor relations and administration functions while also leading strategy and the day-to-day function and execution of People’s businesses.  

Prior to People, Halpin spent nearly a decade as an exec at the NFL, most recently as chief strategy and growth officer. He previously had held posts at Providence Equity Partners and Goldman Sachs.

“As NBCUniversal prepares to enter its next chapter as an independent public company, we’re thrilled to welcome Chris as our Chief Financial Officer,” Cavanagh said in the release. “Chris has spent his career helping build and grow leading businesses across sports, media and entertainment – the areas that will drive NBCUniversal’s growth in the years ahead.” The exec also added a shout-out to Culbertson, who he called “an invaluable partner and a tremendous leader,” adding that he will be “instrumental” to the effort to establish NBCU and subsidiaries like Sky, Peacock and Telemundo after the split from Comcast.

Halpin said he is “honored to join NBCUniversal at this exciting time.”

EXCLUSIVE: Following the merger of Banijay Entertainment and All3Media, which created an $8B production group that is responsible for series such as Big Brother, The Traitors and Peaky Blinders, the company highlighted the U.S. as one of its biggest opportunities to grow.

That growth will be led by Banijay Americas CEO Ben Samek, Deadline understands.

Deadline understands that he will lead the company following the mega-deal. We hear the paperwork hasn’t been signed, but that’s more of a matter of procedure, not helped by it being summer in Europe.

The move is not a huge surprise given that Samek has been running the group that produces CBS’ Big Brother, NBC’s Deal or No Deal Island, Fox’s Fear Factor: House of Fear and MasterChef as well as a plethora of Bravo titles including Below Deck and Summer House since February 2023.

All3Media, which has a federal system of production companies, did not have much of a centralized operation in the U.S. and largely left its stable of production companies, such as The Traitors producer Studio Lambert, to develop and produce shows in the States.

After the merger, Jeff Zucker, who is Chairman of the Board of the newly combined group, which brought together RedBird IMI’s assets, told Deadline, “It’s clear that the U.S. will be one of our opportunities going forward. There is greater opportunity across not just production, but live events and experiences, the digital strength of our company also gives us a great opportunity in the U.S. That’s something we will look to build out.”

Samek’s challenge now is to build an infrastructure in the States that can support the assorted production companies and speak with the various teams, particularly the creative operations. His job is slightly more straightforward than the one in the UK, which is expected to be led by Patrick Holland, where there are more production labels and a bigger mix between scripted and unscripted.

Samek joined Endemol USA in 2014 as COO and transitioned to COO of Endemol Shine North America in 2015. Promoted to President and COO for Endemol Shine North America in January 2018, Samek then expanded his areas of oversight to include the Banijay companies in the U.S. and Latin America when Banijay acquired Endemol Shine Group in 2020. Previously, he held the role of COO at 51 Minds Entertainment.

Banijay Americas encompasses Bunim-Murray Productions, which produces Paramount+’s The Challenge and Alan Ritchson’s upcoming survival series for Netflix, Endemol Shine North America, which makes MasterChef, Deal or No Deal Island, Fear Factor and Lego Masters, Truly Original, which is behind Summer House, In The City and Next Gen NYC, 51 Minds Entertainment, which is behind Below Deck and its multiple spinoffs, and multiple companies focused on the Mexican, U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets.

All3Media, on the other hand, operates a number of businesses focused on the U.S. Studio Lambert, largely based in London, is its most successful producer in the U.S. with series such as Peacock’s The Traitors, Netflix’s upcoming take on Monopoly and Squid Game: The Challenge and Hulu’s reboot of The Circle.

Jack Burgess leads the company in the U.S. and it has also partnered with a number of nascent producers to develop more shows in the States including Inner Drive Entertainment, founded by Jon Barinholtz and Rob Belushi and MindMeld Entertainment, founded by Jill Goslicky and Vivian Choi.

Earlier this year, All3Media also struck a deal with documentary producer Barnicle Brothers. That company sat under All3Media America, which over the years has been run by the likes of former ICM Partner Greg Lipstone, IPC founder Eli Holzman, who just left Sony Pictures Television, and former Nat Geo exec Tim Pastore. It hasn’t had a leader since Pastore left in 2020.

It also closed Maverick Television, which produced series such as USA Network’s Chrisley Knows Best, in 2024. Objective Media Group America, which is behind series such as TBS’ The Cube, CBS’ Lingo and HBO Max’s 12 Dates of Christmas, also lost President Jilly Pearce last year when she joined Disney.

But the company does have some digital chops in the U.S., having promoted Ben Arnold and Charles Wideska to lead Little Dot Studios US earlier this year.

Banijay declined to comment.

As Lioness reunites with her pride for a third season, Zoe Saldaña is grateful to get to reprise a well-written character.

The Oscar-winning actress, who stars as CIA agent Joe McNamara, praised series creator Taylor Sheridan for knowing “how to write women” and characters that “defy gender and race” on the Paramount+ series, which returns Aug. 2 to the streamer.

“I do believe that Joe could’ve been a man. We’ve seen various stories of men like Joe,” she told People. “And Kaitlyn [played by Nicole Kidman] could’ve been a man, the same way Westfield [played by Michael Kelly] could’ve been a woman, Kyle [played by Thad Luckinbill] could’ve been a woman. These are incredible complex individuals [and] any actor who challenges themselves can rise to that occasion.”

Saldaña added that Sheridan’s skill for crafting characters of any experience “is what makes a really good writer.”

“When you write something so incredible that it kind of defies gender and race, and it’s just about the merit of that human being, I feel like you give yourself the opportunity of a wider range of actors that can come in and sort of vie for that part,” she continued. “I have a great deal of respect for men that really know how to write women and I think that Taylor gives himself enough credit.

“I’m happy to say that, after playing one of his female characters for three seasons, I’m incredibly honored that he wrote Joe as a woman,” added Saldañ

Jill Wagner, who plays Bobby, noted that Sheridan “puts a little bit of himself in each one of these characters. Like, I see Taylor in almost every single character. That’s something he does naturally.”

Saldaña joked, “Oh great, so he writes himself? Here I am thinking he writes great women!”

Starring and executive produced by Saldaña and Kidman, Season 3 of Lioness sees hidden networks, foreign operatives and personal betrayals collide. Joe (Saldaña) walks the line between duty and home as unseen forces circle her world. Patterns appear where they shouldn’t, names vanish, and paths rearrange. Guided by Kaitlyn (Kidman) and Westfield (Kelly), Joe confronts enemies operating in the shadows, leaving her to reckon with a war that now reaches into every part of her life.