Peter Smith

World Screen Weekly, September 28, 2006

President

NBC Universal International

As the newly appointed president of NBC Universal, one of Peter Smith’s priorities is to grow the company’s businesses outside the U.S.

“NBC Universal sees the international landscape valued at $150 million, of which it has only a modest share,” he says. “Hopefully, between myself and the support team, we can begin to actively pursue growth opportunities, whether it be through organic growth of the business or through merger and acquisition opportunities.”

At the moment, about 20 percent of NBC Universal’s business comes from outside the U.S., and as Smith explains, “the majority of that came through the acquisition of Universal by NBC. That’s provided a good backbone to really launch the business. The combination of NBC Universal and [parent company] GE gives us real opportunities for investment. There is tremendous ambition from NBCU and GE to grow the international business and be supportive. So I am in a terrific spot here.”

Prior to this promotion, Smith was president of Universal Pictures International (UPI), the London-based international home-entertainment arm of Universal Pictures. Since it was established in 2000, UPI has grown steadily and under Smith’s leadership revenues have risen by 38 percent, compared to a 19 percent compound market growth for the home-entertainment sector as a whole. Smith will be bringing his experience in international markets to his new mandate of growing NBC Universal’s worldwide revenues.

Part of NBC Universal’s strategy calls for increasing the number of channels it has internationally. “There is a plan next year to launch some additional channels in a limited number of European markets,” says Smith, who also has his sights on boosting local productions. “Consumers are increasingly attracted to indigenous product—we’ve seen those trends at the box office and in all the TV viewing figures,” he continues. “We don’t want to be left as a U.S. exporter, that’s a way smaller market. So we really want to capitalize this. One of the things that can really up the business is the extension of local product.”

Smith succeeds Frederick Huntsberry, who left NBC Universal in July to join Paramount Pictures. Smith will also oversee international distribution and is very bullish on NBC Universal’s upcoming feature films. “We’ve got a terrific slate of feature films coming together for next year,” he says. “We have a sequel to Bruce Almighty called Evan Almighty. We’ve got a new Mr. Bean movie, Bean II, and there is a real buzz about it. There is also The Bourne Ultimatum that we feel pretty excited about and American Gangster, which Ridley Scott directed, and stars Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington. It’s probably the best slate we’ve had in years."

There are also high hopes for the international sales potential of NBC Universal’s TV shows. First and foremost House, which is in its third season on FOX in the U.S. and performing very well. And among the new series, there is a lot of excitement about The Black Donnellys, from Academy Award-winner Paul Haggis, and Heroes, a sci-fi drama that has created quite a buzz during its first weeks airing on NBC.

Besides following the exploitation of “old media”, such as movies and TV series, Smith is also very keen on finding new-media distribution outlets. “NBC Universal has been pretty proactive in this area,” he says. “They were the first company to launch the download-to-own model, and in fact, used the feature film King Kong to open doors. Certainly my marching orders are to continue to be as progressive as I possibly can in this area, opening new business models for the future. That’s the mantra for the organization.”

In his new position, Smith will remain based in London. “The most exciting thing that I’m really looking forward to is working with our team of world-class executives,” he says. “It will be a real pleasure to work with such collaborative and enthusiastic colleagues, who have such a high level of expertise.”

Smith will have direct operational responsibility for International TV and New Media Distribution, which is led by Belinda Menendez (who also reports to Rick Finkelstein); and for NBCU Global Networks under Olivier Gerolami in Europe, Reed Manville in Asia and Steve Patscheck in Latin America. In addition, Smith will work closely with other key executives with international responsibilities, including David Kosse in International Theatrical Marketing and Distribution, Mick Buckley at CNBC Europe, Jeremy Pink at CNBC Asia, and his successor at UPI.