Comcast’s Steve Burke has resigned from his role as the company’s chief operating officer, but he will keep his title as executive vice president.
Burke is the CEO of NBCUniversal now that the deal is completed, but last year Comcast said he would retain his COO title while adding the NBCUniversal duties.
“Steve elected to relinquish his role as Comcast Corp.’s COO in order to fully focus on his duties as CEO of NBCUniversal,” a spokesman for Comcast wrote in e-mail to CED this morning. “He will continue to be an executive vice president of Comcast Corp. and an officer of the company.”
Comcast was prepared for Burke’s reduced role on the cable operations side: Last year, former Charter CEO Neil Smith joined the company as its president of Comcast Cable Communications.
The spokesman for Comcast said that Smith was recently promoted to executive vice president of the company.
Burke has played a key role on Comcast’s executive team ever since he joined the company in 1998 as the president of Comcast Cable. Burke has worked side by side with Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts during Comcast’s transformation from a regional cable operator in the 1960s into the nation’s largest cable operator and ISP.
Burke was credited with integrating AT&T Broadband, which included the former TCI cable properties, into Comcast after the deal was completed in 2002.
As CEO of NBCUniversal, Burke oversees the company’s vast portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a motion picture company, significant television production operations, a television stations group and theme parks.