Bela Bajaria Named President of Universal Television

Bela Bajaria Named President of Universal Television

In a number of executive changes at NBC Entertainment and Universal Television, Bela Bajaria has been promoted to president of Universal Television.

Bajaria previously served as executive vice president of Universal Television.

As part of the executive shuffle, Tracey Pakosta, formerly executive vice president, comedy for Universal Television, will shift to executive vice president, comedy programming.

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NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt hailed Bajaria’s “incredible job” thus far while announcing the changes.

“Bela has done an incredible job of starting a studio from scratch three years ago and launching a series of hits on programming services ranging from NBC and Fox to A&E and Netflix,” Greenblatt said. “This business is very important to the overall performance at NBC Entertainment.”

Added Jennifer Salke, NBC Entertainment president, who also oversees Universal Television,”We’re very happy that Bela is going to continue to run the studio at a time when the demand for American television shows keeps growing in this country and around the world.”

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Salke also had kind words for Pakosta, saying that her new role “will position NBC very strongly in the comedy business moving forward.”

“Furthermore, Tracey Pakosta is a superb comedy executive with many years of experience and we’re thrilled to have her come to NBC” Salke said. “This will position NBC very strongly in the comedy business moving forward, which is a major goal for us.”

With the new moves, Vernon Sanders, who had been serving as executive vice president, current programming before assuming the position of executive vice president, comedy programming for NBC Entertainment last year, will return to running current comedy and drama programming.

Executive vice president of drama programming Pearlena Igbokwe will concentrate on drama development going forward.

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