ABC Veteran Scheduler Jeff Bader Jumps to NBC

ABC's veteran scheduler Jeff Bader is heading to NBC.

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In the newly created position, Bader will be responsible for overseeing long and short term program planning for NBC’s primetime, daytime and late night programming as well as the windowing stategy across all NBCU platforms. Going forward, the reseach and scheduling departments will report to Bader, who will work closely with NBC Broadcasting chairman Ted Harbert, another former ABC exec.

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“I am thrilled that Jeff Bader is joining the new NBC family. He is widely known as one of the broadcasting industry's most consummate executives and he will be integral to the re-building of NBC in many ways,” said NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt in a statement, adding: “He has deep experience in so many key areas of running a network in today's challenging environment that he will instantly prove to be invaluable to us as we look to the future.”

Lisa Vebber has been overseeing NBC's schedule since long-time scheduling honco Mitch Metcalf departed in March 2011, mere weeks after Greenblatt took over as chairman. At that time, it was widely suspected that the new regime was not as convinced that such a role was as necessary in a shifting --and increasingly DVR-dependent-- media landscape.

News of Bader's appointment comes as Greenblatt continues to bring new blood to NBC, including marketing chief Len Fogge and drama development head Pearlena Igbokwe, among others. Unlike the vast majority of his hires, however, Bader does not come from Greenblatt’s former home, Showtime.

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Instead, Bader brings with him more than two decades of experience at the Disney-owned rival, where he most recently served as EVP planning, scheduling and distribution of the ABC Entertainment Group. In that role, Bader was tasked with planning and scheduling prime-time and late-night programming as well as the strategy for windowing across all platforms, both domestic and international.

Prior to joining ABC, which he did as an audience analysis supervisor in 1988, Bader held senior research positions at the MTM Distribution Group. But it was NBC where he landed his first professional gig, making this move a homecoming of sorts for the veteran scheduler.

Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose