NBC Universal has upped Ron Suter, its longtime Canadian sales head, to spearhead the U.S. network’s Canadian digital strategy.

Toronto-based Suter moves up to EVP of NBC Universal Television Distribution in Canada, from SVP and GM. He makes the same leap at Universal Studios Canada.

Suter tells Playback Daily the move comes as the Los Angeles-based studio increasingly moves from selling NBC-branded shows in primetime to distributing product across a range of digital platforms and technologies.

‘Distribution has become evermore complex, not only in the Canadian market. We’re dealing with more and more windows, and having to manage them,’ he says.

Besides primetime fare, NBC Universal is licensing late-night and daytime programming, syndicated fare and digital product to cost-conscious Canadian broadcasters looking for programming alternatives in a changing TV landscape.

Barbara Williams, EVP of content at Canwest Broadcasting, who bought a slate of new TV series from NBC Universal at last year’s Los Angeles Screenings, welcomes Suter’s promotion.

‘He is a wonderful partner and to see his passion duly rewarded is terrific news,’ Williams says.

Suter’s promotion also follows NBC picking up for its Friday night schedule Howie Do It, a coproduction with Global Television, and Shaftesbury Films’ The Listener, which is set to air on the peacock network later this year.

Suter has been with NBC Universal since 1981, when he started out in the records division of MCA in Toronto. He next moved to the TV division as a syndication sales executive in 1986 before he rose through the ranks at NBC Universal Television Canada.