Speculation Over NBC Entertainment Chief

Despite celebrating victory in the November rating sweeps, NBC did nothing Tuesday to quiet speculation about prospects of a management shift at the network’s entertainment division.

Specifically, NBC West Coast President Scott Sassa declined to address the status of NBC Entertainment President Garth Ancier during a Tuesday conference call to discuss sweeps results. Sassa indicated his reluctance to give Ancier a vote of confidence now because that could be used to discredit his word should the executive depart at some point in the future.

Ancier himself said regarding rumors about him leaving, “I haven’t really taken it very seriously, although I’m obviously not the person to make that choice.”

The General Electric-owned network performed well during the sweeps, which local affiliates use to negotiate advertising rates, ranking first in the key demographics sought by media buyers; still, most of its success is attributable to several series introduced before Ancier’s arrival in May 1999, including “The West Wing,” “Frasier” and the network’s dominant “Must-See TV” Thursday lineup.

By contrast, new programs have struggled, including a pair of high-profile comedy series, “The Michael Richards Show” and “Cursed,” which underwent significant creative revisions after being scheduled in the spring.

Sources also say Ancier has had difficulty winning over higher-ups and meshing with some of the strong-willed executives he inherited. Indeed, talk of a potential change has swirled since the summer, after reports that senior NBC and GE officials were disappointed with the network’s new shows as well as the West Coast division’s perceived tardiness in exploring alternative forms of programming given the success of competing networks with “Survivor” and “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

A more immediate concern is whether the network will be handicapped in developing programs for the coming television season by any lingering uncertainty regarding its executive ranks. Network insiders maintain they have had no trouble attracting creative talent, though some talent agents say they have been leery of pitching certain projects to NBC while the situation appears to remain unsettled.

Ancier began his television career at NBC in 1979--as an associate under the late Brandon Tartikoff--before being tapped to head programming for the then-nascent Fox television network in the late 1980s. He was president at the WB network before being recruited to NBC by Sassa, a fellow Fox alumnus.