Neil Smit has been named CEO of Comcast’s cable division after already serving as that unit’s president.
The move seems to put Smit on equal footing with Steve Burke, who is executive vice president of Comcast and CEO and president of NBCUniversal. Last year, Smit left his post as CEO at Charter to become president of Comcast Cable. At the time, Smit reported to Burke, but now both report to Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts.
Smit was brought on board as president of Comcast Cable as Burke started spending more time on the deal to acquire and then run NBCUniversal.
“Neil has done a phenomenal job. He has driven innovation, improved the customer experience, increased the speed of the introduction of new products and has expanded our company into new opportunities for profitable growth. I look forward to his continued leadership of our terrific cable team,” Roberts said.
While Comcast’s empire has become more far-flung with the addition of cable programming assets and amusement parks, the cable division is still at the heart of the company’s revenue. In last month’s third-quarter earnings report, Comcast’s revenue increased 51 percent from the previous third quarter to $14.3 billion. Out of that amount, Comcast’s cable unit chipped in $9.3 billion, compared with $8.9 billion in the third quarter of last year.