Netflix Names Peter Rice As Chief Content Officer

Moments after it emerged that Netflix had gotten rid of Bela Bajaria, it named Peter Rice as her replacement.

Former Disney exec Rice takes the job starting October 26.

Rice will oversee all content at Netflix including scripted and unscripted series, film and live events.

Rice’s last full-time job was as Chairman of Walt Disney Television and Chairman of General Entertainment for The Walt Disney Company. He was fired in June 2022 and replaced by Dana Walden.

He was named Head of Ceremonies and Content for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games in July 2025.

RELATED: List Of Hollywood & Media Layoffs From Paramount To Warner Bros Discovery To CNN & More

“Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is sharp, his talent relationships are exceptionally strong, and his experience across TV and film is deep and broad,” said Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO, Netflix. “He understands what makes stories resonate, and he’s spent his career helping talent do the best work of their lives. I’m excited to welcome him to Netflix as Chief Content Officer as we continue to scale and deliver members more of the stories they love.”

“Netflix has fundamentally changed the way stories are made, shared and experienced around the world,” said Rice. “They’ve shown again and again that they’re willing to take chances on distinctive voices and fresh ideas, and I’m excited to work with the team to help bring even more great stories to members everywhere.”

Internal Email from Ted Sarandos

Hi everyone,

I have an important update to share about our Content leadership.

After a phenomenal decade at Netflix, Bela is leaving the company. It’s hard to overstate the impact Bela has had during her time here. From expanding our content offering to include the large-scale expansion of unscripted programming and the launches of live events and sports to helping shape the broadening of our content offering around the world. So much of what you see on Netflix today can be traced back to a Bela initiative: Insatiable, Queer Eye, Lupin, You, The Diplomat, WWE, YuYu Hakusho, The Night Agent, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, Squid Game, Tyson vs Paul, Cien años de soledad, the NFL. She also helped reshape our strategy to focus on fewer, bigger, better movies, championing films like KPop Demon Hunters, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, and Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, as well as bringing award winning films like La Bola Negra and Possible Love to Netflix.

A tremendous and diverse range of content (and that’s just a snapshot), bringing joy to our members across so many genres.

Bela has built and shaped a truly global Content organization, hiring brilliant people and empowering them to make good decisions. I am incredibly grateful to her for everything she’s done.

I know this is a big change in a year that has already had its share. But I also see an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in UCAN where we have an outsize impact in creating big, buzzy hits that our members love and drive conversation around the world.

To help us seize on this moment, I’m excited to share that we’ve hired a new leader. Peter Rice is joining Netflix as our new Chief Content Officer beginning next week. Peter is one of the most effective at-scale operators in the entertainment industry. His business acumen is sharp, his talent relationships are exceptionally strong, and his experience across both TV and film is deep and broad. On the film side, running Fox Searchlight, he helped bring beloved fan favorite films like Slumdog Millionaire, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways and Juno to screens. And more recently, as Chairman of Walt Disney Television, he led one of the most successful television divisions in the world, where he was responsible for a massive breadth and scale of shows ranging from The Simpsons, American Idol ,and Modern Family, to The Bear, and Abbott Elementary, along with ABC News programming and major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and FIFA World Cup Finals. He’s one of the few people in our industry who has ever operated at the quality and scale that we do at Netflix every day. In the last few years, he has turned his attention to creating and has produced films with Alex Garland, Danny Boyle, Chris Rock, Jason Reitman and Aaron Sorkin at Sony and A24.

I’ve gotten to know Peter personally over the years, and I’ve always been impressed by his straightforward approach, the depth of his relationships and his exceptional creative and business instincts. Talent should have the best experiences of their life here, and Peter and I both believe that Netflix can and should be the home of the best storytellers in the world.

It’s been an eventful series of days here, and I realize we’ve asked you to absorb a lot of news and a lot of information. But we all know change is what we do at Netflix. Greg and I will host a companywide town hall on Wednesday, October 21. I want everyone to hear how we’re thinking about the strategy and our execution amid this week’s changes, and to have a chance to ask questions. It will be informal and mostly Q&A, so please bring your questions about this week’s changes and anything else on your mind.

Please join me in thanking Bela, and welcoming Peter to the team.

Ted