Pat Fili-Krushel is leaving NBC Universal, six months after being replaced as the head of NBC News by Andy Lack, an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap Wednesday. Lack, who was NBC News president from 1993 to 2001, began in April, while Fili-Krushel returned to the role of chairman.
An executive at NBC Universal who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel matter said that if an agreement is reached, Lack, a veteran executive who ran NBC’s news division from 1993 to 2001, would return in a lead role at the NBC News Group, which includes NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. He would bring extensive news experience in the U.S. market to a leadership team that now lacks it.
Patricia Fili-Krushel, the new chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, acknowledges the network mishandled the Today show’s Vieira-Curry-Guthrie transition. But she added that even without that fiasco the show had become too complacent and protective of its No. 1 perch. “When you are No. 1, it’s easy to stop taking chances. I think we just stopped innovating.”
