It’s Official: NBCU’s Falco Jumps to AOL

By John M. Higgins -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/15/2006 6:51:00 PM

In a move that will reverberate inside his old company as much as in his new one, NBC Universal Television Group President/COO Randy Falco is stepping up to take the helm at Time Warner’s AOL division. Falco will replace current CEO Jon Miller, who is pushed out of the company.

Falco will be in charge of the transformation of AOL from a company hugely dependent on online subscription revenues to more of a pure Web operation like Yahoo! and Google, trying to monetize the millions of users that depend on AOL everyday for e-mail, chatting and news.

Falco has long been responsible for the business side of NBC, including the ad sales for all outlets, affiliate sales, and NBC and Telemundo TV stations. In a reorganization last December, the TV unit was restructured and Jeff Zucker – who had been responsible primarily for programming – was named chairman of the TV group, ahead of Falco. Previously, Falco reported to NBCU Chairman Bob Wright.

Now, Falco will report to Time Warner President/COO Jeff Bewkes. "AOL is clearly headed in the right direction," Falco said in a statement. "I have full faith in its future as a leader among Time Warner businesses. My challenge will be to execute on the strategy that I believe will make AOL once again the leader of the online world."