Randel A. Falco (born December 26, 1953) is an American media executive. Falco was president and
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
Univision Communications Inc.
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
from June 2011 until retiring in June 2018. Before joining Univision in January 2011 as Executive Vice President and COO, he served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of AOL from November 2006 to March 2009. Prior to his tenure at AOL, he spent 31 years at
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, including serving as the network's president and COO.
Career
NBC
Falco began his career at
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in September 1975. In 31 years with the network, he held several managerial positions in finance, technical operations, and corporate strategic planning. From 1986 to 1991, he served as Vice President of Finance and Administration, NBC Sports. In 1993, Falco was named President of NBC's Broadcast and Network Operations division. He oversaw the facilities and operations of the NBC Television Network worldwide, where he oversaw the design and creation of the Today Show's "Window on the World" studio, MSNBC's state-of-the-art broadcast facilities in Secaucus, N.J., and the digital conversion of the NBC Television Network. He also served as a GE officer.
NBC-Universal
Falco played a key role in the NBC-Universal merger, leading him to be named President of the NBC Universal Television Network Group in 2004.
Following the merger, Falco combined the ad sales operations of NBCU's broadcast and cable units – the first major media company to take that approach. He was named president and chief operating officer of the NBC Universal Television Group in December 2005. Falco was responsible for the group's commercial and operational functions, including affiliate relations and Telemundo.
Reverse Affiliate Compensation
In February 2000, Falco negotiated the first reverse compensation deal by one of the major broadcast networks. The agreement, “an astonishing reversal of the network compensation policy,” was a 10-year, $362 million deal with Granite Broadcasting that turned KNTV into the NBC affiliate serving San Francisco and San Jose. This approach changed the model so that affiliates would pay the networks for their programming – not the other way around, as had been customary. Falco made the arrangement work for both parties by finding “new revenue streams to be shared by network and stations.”
Olympic Games
Beginning with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Falco played a key role in NBC's ongoing success with the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. He worked alongside NBC Sports Chairman
Dick Ebersol
Duncan "Dick" Ebersol (; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large-scale television events such as the O ...
to secure exclusive NBC coverage for five consecutive Olympic Games: 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008.
In his book “Olympic Turnaround,”
Michael Payne described the NBC deal to secure the Games as a “coup” that left the other networks “speechless.” The NBC deal with the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
signed December 12, 1995 at $2.3 billion for three Games was “the biggest broadcast deal in sports history” at the time.
Falco served as COO for the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
, the 2000 Summer Olympic, the 1996 Summer Olympics, and the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning multiple Emmy Awards for these broadcasts.
AOL
After 31 years with NBC, Falco became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017 ...
in November 2006. As CEO he set strategy and oversaw operations as the company transitioned to an advertising-focused business model. In this restructuring, Falco made 16 strategic acquisitions, eliminated $2.5 billion in costs and moved AOL's headquarters from Dulles to Manhattan. The restructuring also included a series of three workforce restructures.
In 2007, a year into his tenure at AOL, Falco was named the recipient of the Frank Stanton Award, honoring excellent leadership in the media field.
Under Falco, AOL acquired social networking website
Bebo
Bebo ( ) was an American Social networking service, social networking website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013 and relaunched in February 2021. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number ...
for $850 million in 2008, but a few months later global financial markets imploded and Bebo's value dropped.
AOL later sold
Bebo
Bebo ( ) was an American Social networking service, social networking website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013 and relaunched in February 2021. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number ...
to Criterion Capital Partners in 2010 for an undisclosed sum which was reportedly under $10 million.
In 2009, Falco was replaced as CEO by Google Ad Chief
Tim Armstrong
Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants. ...
.
Univision Communications Inc.
Falco has been president and CEO of Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) since June 2011 after starting as Executive Vice President and COO for Univision in January 2011. Since 2011, under Falco's leadership, Univision has increased its earnings. His contract was recently renewed until January 2018. Falco sits on the board of directors of
Univision Communications
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
Inc.
As CEO, Falco has said he is focused on making UCI, which is acknowledged by Business Insider as an “extremely important media brand,” the most heavily engaged media brand.
Under his leadership, Univision has undergone a company-wide expansion that has included the launch of new networks, including Univision tlNovelas, Univision Noticias, and
Univision Deportes
TUDN (formerly Univision Deportes) is a sports programming division of Univision, a Spanish language broadcast television network owned by TelevisaUnivision USA, that is responsible for the production of televised coverage of sports events and m ...
, which features
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
matches from the
Mexican Primera División
The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year.
The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...
and
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
. In 2013, Univision announced the launch of
El Rey, a new network geared towards young-adult audiences led by
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodriguez (; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ac ...
. That year Univision also rebranded its TeleFutura network into
UniMás
UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
, which targets males ages 18 to 35, broadcasts
telenovelas
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include ''teleserye'' (P ...
, soccer events, reruns of classic shows and feature films. In the summer of 2013, Falco negotiated Univision's joint venture with
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
/
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
to launch "Fusion", a 24-hour, English-language cable news network.
During his tenure at Univision since 2010, Falco has presided over big, strategic changes that aim to respond to the media disruption that affects the industry. He planted Univision firmly in digital turf by buying Gawker out of bankruptcy for $135 million, purchasing a 40.5% controlling stake in the parent of humor-oriented The Onion for $27 million and forming a video streaming JV with Lionsgate–all in 2016
6 After the acquisitions, Univisión generates over 100 million monthly unique visitors, one of the largest market shares for media outlets in the United States. After launching Story House, an independent production unit owned by UCI, its first TV series about cartel kingpin "El Chapo" Netflix, received critical acclaim and record ratings. Netflix licensed the series with a second window for Univision that year.
Univision's
Galavisión
Galavisión is an American Spanish-language pay television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network is unrelated to the earlier Mexican channel of the same name, though both broadcast Televisa-produced programming.
As of February 2015, a ...
remains the No. 1 Spanish-language cable network. Under Falco, Univision has also forged a partnership with Hulu; started UVideos, a digital online network for streaming content; acquired exclusive multi-year rights to Mexican professional football club Chivas De Guadalajara of
Liga MX
The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year.
The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...
; and launched several new apps and websites to broaden the distribution of its content across new platforms.
In addition, under Falco, Univision celebrated its 50th anniversary in the fall of 2012 by unveiling a new brand logo and a new tagline identifying Univision as the “Hispanic Heartbeat of America.” In July 2013, Univision announced its quarterly earnings were $40.7 million, 28 percent higher than in 2012. “Our aggressive push to take share from the English-language networks is working,” Falco said.
Under Falco's guidance, Univision developed the UCI Total Reach Score ratings system. Through this new system, Univision has been able to detect an increased audience of 45 million consumers, an increase of 10 percent from 2013.
In 2013, Falco and his team started the award-winning Univision Contigo (Univision With You).
Univision Contigo is an initiative that provides the U.S. Hispanic community with access to information and resources focused on education, health, prosperity and participation.
Falco's Univision contract was extended to last through 2020, however, in March 2018, the company announced that he will be retiring by the end of 2018. The retirement announcement came 24 hours after Univision abandoned its long-planned IPO strategy and replaced its CFO.
Univision News
During Falco's tenure, Univision has expanded its news offerings to Latino audiences. The news division of Univision has increased its emphasis on investigative journalism for which it has attained several recognitions for journalistic excellence, such as the 2012 Peabody Award and
IRE
Ire or IRE may refer to:
Ire
* Extreme anger; intense fury
* Irē, the Livonian name for Mazirbe, Latvia
* A town in Oye, Nigeria
* ''Ire'' (album), a 2015 album by the Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive
* Ire (Iliad), a town mentioned in ...
Award for its “Fast and Furious” investigation, two Emmy Lifetime Achievement Awards, two Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Journalism and several prestigious awards for five documentaries produced by the Investigative and Documentary units. Falco was also instrumental in the first Presidential “Meet the Candidates” forums targeted to Hispanic audiences, which featured presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in September 2012 on Univision,
as well as in the Company's coverage of the unaccompanied minors crisis at the border, which received the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Journalism and its second prestigious King of Spain International Journalism Award.
Univision ratings milestones
In 2013, Univision saw significant ratings milestones. In the February sweeps, the network came in fourth place for the first time with adult demographics while NBC came in fifth. In the July sweeps, Univision came in first in 2013 and 2014. Until 2013, no English-language American broadcast network had been beaten during sweeps.
Advocacy
As Univision CEO, Falco undertook a number of advocacy initiatives on behalf of U.S. Hispanics. In August 2012, noting that “more than 20 million Hispanics could play a critical role in electing the new President of the United States,” Falco called upon the Commission on Presidential Debates to add an additional debate “that will speak directly to this burgeoning audience so influential to the presidential dialogue and outcome.” When the commission rejected Falco's idea, Univision staged its own candidate forums with President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney.
In June 2016, after then-candidate Donald Trump made disparaging remarks about Hispanics in a campaign speech, Falco canceled Univision's agreement to televise the Trump-owned Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. According to ''Hollywood Reporter'', “As the mainstream media is struggling with how to cover Trump, Falco is positioning Univision squarely as an advocate for its mostly Spanish-speaking audience.”
In September 2016, Falco took on the Commission on Presidential Debates once again. In an open letter to executive director Janet H. Brown, published in ''Variety'', Falco wrote: “I am writing to express disappointment, and frankly disbelief, that the Commission on Presidential Debates has not chosen a Hispanic journalist to moderate the presidential debates. Simply put: it’s an abdication of your responsibility to represent and reflect one of the largest and most influential communities in the U.S.”
In August 2017, following violent race-related clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, Falco spoke out against the White House response and called upon corporate leaders to act. As reported on deadline.com: “Without mentioning Trump by name, Falco said in an open letter that he opposes the ‘abject failure to clearly and forcefully denounce the actions of white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and others who espouse racist and hateful views.’ He adds that the ‘current insanity threatens to spiral out of control and has to stop. Leadership is needed. Leaders from corporate America must step in to protect the communities we serve, as so many leaders in our nation’s Capital are failing to speak out forcefully and clearly against the spreading hate and bigotry.’”
Beginning in September 2017, on eight separate occasions Falco took action in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He told ''Adweek'', “Univision will continue to stand by the thousands of talented DREAMers whose stories are unmistakably American. The loss of DREAMers in our workforce and in our communities will result in significant harm to the success of this great nation and to organizations like Univision that give voice to the underrepresented.” In January 2018, Univision expanded its efforts in support of the DACA program by creating an interactive tool that enables DACA supporters to easily make their voices heard by legislators nationwide to help protect Dreamers and modernize the country's immigration system.
Falco also led Univision's efforts to support those impacted by a series of natural disasters in 2017. On September 23, 2017, a seven-hour telethon, ''Unidos por los Nuestros'' (United for Each Other) that aired across the networks of Univision enabled the American Red Cross to raise more than $3 million to assist the survivors and victims of the Mexican earthquakes and Hurricane Maria, as well as ongoing support for communities impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. In addition, Univision employees traveled to Puerto Rico to deliver shipments of emergency supplies from Univision and some of its business and community partners.
Awards
As part of his job with Univision, Falco has been recognized for his efforts and leadership with issues around children of illegal immigrants in the United States and unaccompanied children at the U.S.–Mexico border following his letter to the U.S. president and legislative leaders, and was awarded the “champion award” by KIND in 2015.
The
National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...
also recognized Falco for his leadership in the industry with the Board of Trustees’ Award, and Cablefax included Randy in its Greatest Hits of for the past three years. In January 2017, Falco was named a recipient of
NATPE's 14th Annual
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...
Legacy Awards for demonstrating a high degree of excellence, vision and leadership through the process of creating compelling content. Additionally, in 2013 Falco was named the MS Hope Award honoree by the
National MS Society
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) is a nonprofit organization that was founded in New York City as the Association for Advancement of Research on Multiple Sclerosis on March 11, 1946 by Sylvia Lawry. Ms. Lawry was a lawyer looking fo ...
; inducted into the
Broadcasting & Cable
''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcast ...
Hall of Fame; and was also honored by
Ballet Hispanico
Ballet Hispánico is an American dance company based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded by the Puerto Rican-Mexican-American dancer and choreographer Tina Ramirez in 1970 and presents dances reflecting the experience of Hispanic and Latino ...
with its Civic Inspiration Award.
In 2018, Falco was awarded an Impact Award by the
National Hispanic Media Coalition
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) civil rights organization that was founded to eliminate hate, discrimination, and racism towards the Latino community.
NHMC collaborates with other social justice organizations ...
for his “Outstanding Service and Commitment to the Latino community”.
Personal life
Falco, a native of the Bronx, NY, attended
Iona College
Iona University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic university with a main campus in New Rochelle, New York. It was founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and occupies a campus of in New Rochell ...
, where he received his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance in 1975 and his Master of Business Administration, also in finance, in 1979. He received an honorary doctorate from Iona College in 2001. He and his wife Susan have three children. Falco sits on the board of directors of the
Ronald McDonald House
Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an independent American nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children.
RMHC has a global network of c ...
and is a member of the Advisory Board of the
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
.
References
External links
EXECUTIVE PROFILE: Randy Falco
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falco, Randy
1953 births
Living people
American technology chief executives
Chairmen of AOL
American chairpersons of corporations
Iona College (New York) alumni
American chief operating officers