Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Chernin, who recently stepped down as Rupert Murdoch’s second-in-command, tops a growing list of former News Corp. executives shaping Comcast Corp.’s effort to become a major entertainment company.

At least five former News Corp. executives are involved with Philadelphia-based Comcast, the largest U.S. cable TV service. Chernin, who started his own film and television production company in July, is consulting on the company’s efforts to buy a controlling stake in General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, according to people with knowledge of his role.

“That’s who’s available,” said Laura Martin, an analyst at Soleil Securities in Pasadena, California, who rates Comcast shares “hold” and doesn’t own them. “There are only three people who can fix the NBC network: Peter Chernin, Bob Iger and Les Moonves, and Iger and Moonves are not available.”

Chernin has a long record running entertainment businesses, like Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Iger and Moonves, CEO of CBS Corp., Martin said. He was News Corp.’s chief operating officer and Murdoch’s No. 2 for 12 years when he left in July.

Chernin is also friends with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts. They own summer homes near each other on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Chernin and Stephen Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer, have homes next to each other along the ski slopes of Montana.

News Corp. Veterans

In addition to Chernin, Comcast is being advised by Peter Liguori, 49, the former head of Fox Broadcasting Co. who oversaw entertainment at that network, according to people with knowledge of his role.

Liguori, who left News Corp. in March in a management shake-up, became a Comcast consultant prior to the cable company’s pursuit of New York-based NBC Universal, said the people, who insisted on anonymity because the relationships haven’t been announced publicly.

News Corp. spokeswoman Julie Henderson declined to comment. Liguori, reached by e-mail, also declined to comment.

Comcast’s head of programming, Jeff Shell, arrived in May 2005 from News Corp.’s Fox cable networks, where he oversaw the FX, Fox Sports and National Geographic cable channels. Jamie Davis, the president of Versus, a Comcast sports network, was an 11-year News Corp. veteran prior to joining Comcast in 2005. Neal Tiles, the president of Comcast’s G4 video-game channel, was senior vice president of marketing at Fox Sports.

Network Revenue

Comcast fell 25 cents to $15.11 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has declined 10 percent since Sept. 30, when the company’s interest in NBC Universal was first reported. GE, based in Fairfield, Connecticut, lost 5 cents to $15.53 on the New York Stock Exchange and is down 4.1 percent this year.

“I don’t think it’s coincidental,” said Jack Myers, a New York-based media consultant. “I think it speaks to the lack of experience within Comcast. They have to get a real understanding of where the network business is today.”

Revenue from cable networks including E! Entertainment Television and the Golf Channel contributed 4.3 percent of Comcast’s $8.94 billion in second-quarter revenue, or $384 million, and $65 million in operating profit. The company’s flagship cable service earned $1.91 billion on $8.45 billion in sales providing television, Internet and phone service.

With about 25 percent of the U.S. cable subscriber market, Comcast has called obtaining programming assets a priority.

“Content channels are good businesses,” Burke said at a September investor conference in Los Angeles. “We wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t try to figure out a way to get bigger in those businesses.”

No Permanent Role

News Corp. veterans including Chernin, 58, may encourage Comcast to manage NBC’s cable and broadcast operations as Murdoch has.

“Murdoch’s units are completely independent, whereas NBC has been somewhat of a model of integration and cross-platform development,” Myers said.

Burke, 51, and Roberts, 50, approached Chernin to help assess the strategic value of NBC Universal and the potential pitfalls of a deal, according to the people.

Chernin managed film, cable and broadcast operations at News Corp. NBC Universal owns broadcast and cable networks including USA, film and television studios, and theme parks.

Comcast has no plans to hire Chernin in a permanent role if and when a deal NBC is consummated, according to the people. Chernin has no interest in pursuing one because it would be too similar to the position he left at News Corp, they said.

Production Company

Chernin has focused on setting up his production company on the Twentieth Century Fox lot in Los Angeles. His first productions, one based on the story of Moses and the other a modern-day Robin Hood story starring Leonardo DiCaprio, are scheduled for theatrical release in 2011, according to Amazon.com Inc.’s Internet Movie Database.

The company has also optioned two scripts, also for Fox, that may be released in 2012, according to IMDB.com. Chernin has TV shows in development at CBS and Fox, the people said.

Comcast’s efforts to acquire a majority stake in NBC Universal hinge in part on the plans of Vivendi SA, the Paris- based media and phone company, which holds a 20 percent stake in the entertainment company.

Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy has identified NBC as a short-term asset and his board weighed the possible disposition of its holding at a board meeting on Oct. 14.

Third-quarter profit at NBC Universal rose 13 percent after the company recorded a one-time $283 million gain from the merger of its partly owned A&E channel with the Lifetime cable network owned by Hearst Corp. and Disney. Without the gain, profit dropped 9 percent, parent GE said on an Oct. 16 conference call.

This television season, NBC is last in prime-time viewers among the four major networks, with an average of 7.84 million nightly in the four weeks ended Oct. 18, according to data from Nielsen Co. in New York. The network is also last in the 18-49 viewers targeted by advertisers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Pulley in New York at bpulley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 21, 2009 16:09 EDT