NBC sales arm taps Wallach
Syndie vet named exec VP
Wallach, 39, reports to Ed Wilson, president of NBC Enterprises, the TV-syndication arm of NBC. Wilson continues to hire many of the executives that worked for him at CBS/Eyemark Entertainment in the mid-to-late '90s. Last year, Eyemark was folded into King World after Viacom bought CBS/King World.
'Link' in the pink
In September 2000, Wilson created NBC Enterprises, which is now selling the syndication version of the successful network gameshow "The Weakest Link" for five-a-week play on TV stations, beginning in January 2002. "Link" is racking up sales, having cleared stations in the top five markets.
NBC Enterprises' fresh hourlong strip for this fall is "The Other Half," billed as a male version of ABC's morning strip "The View." "Other Half" premieres Sept. 10 on stations representing 85% of the U.S.
The long-running "Access Hollywood" is NBC Enterprises' bellwether strip. Reruns of "Providence" are also part of the inventory of the company NBC-E, which is lining up TV stations for weekend play of the reruns, beginning in the fall of 2002. The Family Channel has bought the cable-TV rights to "Providence" for five-a-week reruns in the early evening, also starting in fall 2002. Family now runs "Providence" reruns twice a week in primetime.
Michaels yakker
For the fall of 2002, NBC Enterprises is developing a talkshow with Lorne Michaels as executive producer. Michaels is creator and exec producer of "Saturday Night Live" and exec producer of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien."
In the last year, Wilson has brought over to NBC Enterprises such former Eyemark executives as Jon Hookstratten, who is executive VP of administration and operations; Jim Martz, VP of Western sales; Suni Deskin, VP of sales operations; Mary Beth McAdaragh, VP of marketing; Sean O'Boyle, VP of Midwestern sales; Kevin O'Donnell, VP of Southern sales; and Frances Manfredi, VP of cable sales.
Wallach's previous job was executive VP of World Now, a company that provides technology and other services to TV stations. He was executive VP of domestic syndication at CBS/Eyemark from April 1996 to January 2000.
