Salil Mehta is filling the post of top business development exec for NBCU, vacant since Bruce Campbell left last March to join Discovery; he will join in early 2008. Mehta, most recently EVP-ESPN Enterprises, has been on deck for months but he is contractually glued to Disney (NYSE: DIS) and can’t start until early 2008. In the meantime, he has been moved from ESPN offices in NYC to other Disney office space to wait it out.

Mehta joined Disney in 1994; he spent 11 years there in the strategic planning group, running corporate business development before moving to ESPN in 2005. At ESPN, he was at one point responsible for the non-broadcast businesses—video games, consumer products, publishing, dot.com and mobile strategy, including the Mobile ESPN MVNO and the subsequent shutdown and shift to a licensed version exclusive to Verizon. Those responsibilities moved to other executives. Mehta also was involved with MovieBeam, Disney’s ill-fated movie set-top box scheme, as EVP-corporate business development and served on the spin-off’s board while he was at ESPN.

No comment from NBCU; ESPN doesn’t comment on personnel matters. Mehta has not returned voice mail.

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