Sony Pictures' Ravi Ahuja talks 2025 plans with NBCUniversal's Mark Marshall

Newly minted Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja talks about his first days as studio head in the latest episode - when Mother Nature wreaked havoc on Los Angeles Wildfire storm. type Podcast "Strictly Business".

Ahuja gave his first interview since taking over SPE this month at the Variety Entertainment Summit, part of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. At the same meeting on Jan. 8, NBCUniversal ad sales executive Mark Marshall discussed the company's sports and entertainment schedule for the next two years with NBC Sports host Maria Taylor - Marshall Describing this framework as "the greatest 730 days ever for any media company" has been done before. "

As Los Angeles wakes up to the reality of the fires that devastated the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles and Altadena, a community north of Pasadena, Ahuja reflects on the decision-making process as it relates not only to business strategy; Public safety.

"Obviously, the situation ... is very fluid," Ahuja said. "You hope everyone is OK. Some of our employees have lost their homes, many have been displaced, but the rest of the city is OK. Our decision is: Do we close our lot? Our destiny has its own power, It's actually kind of a refuge for some people, so we strongly encourage people to work from home but still stay open."

NBCUniversal Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships Mark Marshall and NBC Sports host Maria Taylor speak at the CES Variety Entertainment Summit (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Variety via Getty Images) Variety via Getty Images

Later in the day, Marshall and Taylor had a lively chat about sports, strategy, and hair—and Marshall's lack thereof—bringing some much-needed levity to the event. Marshall is enthusiastic about the NBA broadcast rights that NBC and Peacock have acquired starting with the 2025-26 season.

"When you think about what this will do for our company, you watch a game every Monday night on Peacock. Tuesday night, the game will be live on NBC. And then, after 'Sunday Night Football,' you'll Transitioning to 'Sunday Night Basketball' (on NBC). We did a branding study (to determine) that it was going to be called 'Sunday Night Basketball,'" Marshall said. "So this is going to change the face of NBC. If you look at NBC from morning to night, on average, 70 percent of the time it's live on NBC. So that's going to make this even more powerful as we look forward. "

"Strictly business" is typeA weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes arrive every Wednesday and are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud, and more.

(Above: Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Ravi Ahuja with type Co-editor Cynthia Littleton)