• by Wayne Friedman , October 5, 2020

Susan Rovner officially started in her role as chairman of entertainment content for NBC Universal Television and Streaming on Monday, overseeing all TV and associated content for NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, Universal Kids, USA and premium streaming service Peacock.

The move comes as many TV networks have been hit with major delays in debuting new entertainment programming for the 2020-2021 TV season.

Formerly president of Warner Bros. Television and Warner Horizon Scripted Television, Rovner will also oversee all seven original NBCU syndication shows including the daytime talk show “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

Rovner will work alongside Frances Berwick, recently named chairman of entertainment networks for NBCUniversal. Berwick will handle business operations for the group.

Rovner will report to Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Universal Television and Streaming.

At Warner Bros. Rovner oversaw TV shows including “The Flash” and “Riverdale” for The CW; “Blindspot” for NBC; “Gotham” for Fox; “Westworld” and “Watchmen” for HBO; “You” for Netflix; “Shrill” for Hulu; “Queen Sugar” for OWN; and “Ted Lasso” at Apple TV+.

In total, she developed or oversaw 18 series, reaching a key 100-episode milestone -- typically a mark for lucrative after-market U.S. and international syndication markets.

Her previous positions at Warner Bros. included executive vice president of development at WBTV and co-president of Warner Horizon Scripted Television.

For the September 2019 to May 2020, the NBC Television Network dropped 9% in prime-time viewers from the previous season to 6.67 million -- good for second place among the top U.S. broadcast networks.

CBS posted the best number for average total viewers in prime time this year -- down 15% versus the year before, to 7.75 million. Fox was up 17% to 6.4 million, while ABC was down 3% to 5.5 million.