Report: NBC Entertainment Chief Bob Greenblatt To Exit

Bob Greenblatt

Bob Greenblatt is preparing to leave his post as NBC Entertainment chairman after leading the network’s turnaround during the past eight years.

Greenblatt, who renewed his contract with NBC last fall, is in the process of negotiating his exit plan at NBC after making the decision that the time is right for him to make the transition, multiple sources familiar with the situation have told Variety.

He’s expected to meet this weekend with NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke to work out an exit plan that would give NBC a long runway for setting a successor. His official departure could be as late as the end of the 2018-19 season in May.

At NBC, Greenblatt has engineered an impressive rebound for the network after out of years in the ratings cellar. NBC has been a roll in the last two years in particular thanks to the buzzy hit “This Is Us.” Under Greenblatt, NBC has finished four of the last five seasons as the top-rated primetime network in the 18-49 demo.

NBC also finished the 52-week 2017-18 season as the No. 1 network in nearly every ratings measure, including total viewers — the first time since 2001-02 that NBC has taken the total-viewers crown.