• by Wayne Friedman , September 21, 2018

Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, is poised to exit his post, according to multiple reports.

The broadcast network entertainment chief with the longest tenure -- nearly eight years -- came to NBC in 2011 from Showtime, where he was president of entertainment.

He is expected to discuss his exit with Steve Burke, CEO, NBCUniversal this weekend, according to Variety.

Greenblatt presided over NBC’s big turnaround in prime time, where the network climbed out of last place. It rose in many viewership metrics -- winning 18-49 viewers in the last four of five years.  

During his tenure, he presided over NBC’s entertainment shows, including “This Is Us,” “The Voice,” “Chicago Fire” and “Parenthood.”

With experience as a Broadway producer, Greenblatt brought live musicals productions to modern-day broadcast TV. In 2013, he programmed a live musical version of “The Sound of Music” during the holiday season; other musicals followed. All this inspired rival networks to air their own live TV versions of musicals.

Looking at the recently completed September 2017-to-September 2018 TV season, NBC edged CBS in total viewers: 7.8 million to 7.7 million. That's the first time NBC was tops in this metric since the 2001-2002 season. NBC was also best in 18-49 viewers -- an 1.8 rating to a 1.3 rating, each for CBS and ABC.

This year, analysts credit NBC’s rising results to airing the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics in the same season.

Greenblatt signed a new long-term contract with NBC last fall.

A NBC spokesperson did not respond to Television Daily News' inquiries by press time.