Comcast Appoints Overseer for Combined News Units

Comcast created a new unit to house all of the news properties at its majority-owned NBCUniversal unit, naming a veteran media executive to run it. The new NBCUniversal News Group will comprise NBC News, CNBC, MSNBC and the Weather Channel.

Pat Fili-Krushel, a 58-year old executive vice president at NBCUniversal overseeing business strategy, human resources and legal, will be chairman. She will report to Steve Burke, NBCUniversal's chief executive. The existing heads of each news unit will remain in their jobs. The move reflects a broader effort by Comcast to streamline its broadcast and cable channel businesses. After acquiring control of NBCUniversal last year, it created NBC Sports Group, which combined Comcast's sports channels and NBC's sports division into a single unit.