Overlooked: Two Key Players In Comcast’s NBC Bid Are Ex-NBC Execs

Yesterday, the news that former News Corp. heavyweight Peter Chernin had been advising Comcast in its bid for NBC Universal sent shockwaves throughout the media world.

Before the speculation as to what this means gets out of hand, it’s worth bringing up one key data point: both of Chernin’s top deputies, Katherine Pope and Dylan Clark, are former NBC/Uni execs.

As Gawker’s Richard Rushfield put it, Chernin’s advisory role puts two major questions in Hollywood on a collision course: “Who’s going to take over NBC/Universal and what’s going to happen to ex-Fox chief Peter Chernin?” Media Decoder speculates:

News of Mr. Chernin’s involvement is likely to put more pressure on Jeff Zucker, the chief executive of NBC Universal, who is fighting fires on several fronts. In addition to the question marks surrounding his future at the company in the event of a change in ownership, he has also faced recent management upheaval at Universal Studios, a primetime lineup mired in fourth place and questions about the success or failure of the recent experiment of placing Jay Leno in primetime.

But the involvement of Pope and Clark complicates theories that this is merely a Cheneyite setup for Chernin to take the helm after advising the process. Pope is the former head of NBC Studios; Deadline’s Nikki Finke frequently holds her up as a scapegoat unfairly sacrificed by Zucker. Clark, considered by many to be the former heir apparent at Universal, joined forces with Chernin in June.

Industry experts agree that Peter Chernin has the best possible development deal for Fox. Before the conspiracy theories about his consultancy for Comcast spin out of control, pundits should consider the simplest: he’s a knowledgeable old hand with some of the people most knowledgeable about NBC/Uni reporting to him directly.