Inside Move
Peacock's Sassa denies he's ankling
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"I am fully committed to the company, and in fact, our top executives share with me the belief that there's terrific momentum in the entertainment division as we head into the new season," Sassa wrote in an e-mail to NBC staffers.
Also, responding to concerns that the Peacock missed the original programming boat during the off-season this year, Sassa said the network has created a new team to develop programming for next summer.
Sassa admitted that the network hadn't been competitive with the other three major networks in developing alternative programming such as the voyeur shows currently dominating TV.
"It is true that we are disappointed in our lack of reality shows," he wrote. "We made shows that ran during the season our top priority, which in retrospect was a mistake. Fortunately, we have the Olympics as a great promotional platform to start off the season."
With no Olympics next year, Sassa said plans have already been made to develop original programming for next summer.
"We have allocated a large amount of resources and hired a staff just focused on summer programming," Sassa said.
Sassa's e-mail came in response to a report in the New York tabloids Friday that General Electric chair Jack Welch had taken the exec to task for the network's failure to develop reality programming to rival ABC's and CBS' success with the genre.
In the message, Sassa said NBC management did indeed sit down with Welch last week for a quarterly meeting to update GE brass on network affairs. According to reports, Welch expressed his displeasure with NBC's perf at the meeting.
Rumors have swirled for months that Sassa may leave the network and that Paramount TV Group topper Kerry McCluggage is in line for the job. All sides continue to deny the gossip, which has failed to disappear.
"While it's impossible to quash all the rumors and speculation that's sure to be reported, I wanted you to be confident that the current management team is here for the long haul," Sassa wrote.
