Steve Burke, known as Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' right-hand man, came to Comcast in 1998 and led the Comcast Cable Business until 2011, when Comcast acquired NBCU from GE.
He ascended to CEO of NBCU, becoming the highest paid executive at Comcast in 2017, with a higher pay package than Roberts himself when he made $46.5 million compared to Roberts' $32.5 million. The company won't release 2018 executive compensation figures until April.
"When we bought NBCUniversal eight years ago, the company was making $3.5 billion a year, and this year we made $8.5 billion," Burke told Business Insider.
It falls to Burke to protect NBCU's more than $10 billion TV ad business as people ditch traditional TV for online video.
The company isn't monetizing its online offerings as well as it should be, Burke said on the fourth quarter earnings call.
He announced a free, ad-supported streaming service that will launch in 2020 for Comcast and Sky pay-TV subscribers. Burke said that he's already talked with bigger MVPDs to offer NBCU's free streaming option to anyone with a pay-TV subscription, regardless of the service provider.
The service will have just three to five minutes of ads per hour. For non pay-TV subscribers, the monthly cost will be comparable to competitors like Hulu, with a $6 to $8 ad-supported service; and Netflix and Hulu's ad-free services costing $12 or $13 per month.
For NBCU's service to succeed, Burke will need to license content from outside creators, even those launching rival streaming services like AT&T's Warner Media.
"It's virtually certain that some content providers will join us," he said.