Turner Broadcasting Networks CEO John Martin escalated the war of words with Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen Wednesday, adding that was surprised with the  satellite company's decision to drop its channels, adding that it seemed to center on Turner's inability to extend an expiration date for a channel that wasn’t up for renewal.

Turner channels CNN, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, CNN en Español, HLN, truTV and Turner Classic Movies went dark to Dish’s 14 million customers on Oct. 20.On Tuesday, Ergen said that the company was ready to keep the channels off the air for the long haul, adding that Turner programming can be found through other sources.

On a conference call with analysts Wednesday to discuss quarterly results, Martin said he was stumped as to why Dish did not accept Turner’s carriage proposals, especially since the two had essentially agreed on terms weeks before.

“We disagree with virtually everything he [Ergen] said,” Martin said. "We were both disappointed in the very aggressive and antagonistic nature of his comments."

Martin added that Turner had even essentialy reached an agreement concerning Dish's planned over-the-top service, but Turner's participation in that service is unclear now.

"While there clearly were more deal points to get done, they are not of the type of nature that would result in networks going dark,” Martin continued. “All of us sitting around the table have been in this industry a long time, so we have a pretty good sense of what those are. It’s unclear exactly what the dispute with Dish is. We were told by them we were taken down because we wouldn’t move an expiration date later into the year.”

He added those networks weren’t up for renewal yet, which has led to some speculation that they are the TNT and TBS, which are expected to come up for renewal in the next month or so.

Ergen said Tuesday that losing TNT and TBS could be "more painful" and result in a loss of customers, but he was willing to sacrifice short term gains for longer term health.

“It would be a little but tougher if their original programming was a success like AMC,” Ergen said, adding that other Turner fare like reruns and even the NBA are available through other sources.

“When you start having a lot of your product being available [through] a lot of different sources, customers don’t want to pay for it twice,” Ergen said. “Sometimes they’re willing to watch it the next day or the next week in a more convenient structure, because young people are not watching stuff live now, except ESPN,” he added.

Dish officials did not immediately return requests for comment.

Although it was overshadowed by the news that its Home Box Office unit would launch an over the top service next year, Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes managed to drive home a simple message at the media conglomerate’s investor day Wednesday: “Just don’t worry.”

He was joking when he said it, but there is a grain of truth in that statement, made as Time Warner’s investor day meeting drew to a close. For about four hours at its Manhattan headquarters Bewkes and his top executives – Turner Broadcasting System chairman and CEO John Martin, HBO chairman and CEO Richard Pepler, Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara  and chief financial officer Howard Averill walked shareholders and analysts through a series of presentations geared toward calming their fears of the present and giving them hope for the future.

Bewkes started off the meeting by reminding investors of the past – Time Warner has grown earnings per share at a faster pace in the past five years than the S&P 500 Index and since 2009 has returned $25 billion in dividends and stock buybacks to shareholders while investing $75 billion in the business – and showing them a glimpse of the future – he pledged that EPS would double over the next several years.

Bewkes has been under pressure to show that Time Warner can stand on its own since his board rejected 21st Century Fox’s $80 billion unsolicited offer back in July. While he and the rest of his team have a ways to go before they can definitively prove that, the meeting seemed to show that the company was at least paying attention and is making moves to right the ship.

At Turner, which has been rocked by poor ratings and a sense that its steady stream of Big Bang Theory reruns aren’t resonating with viewers anymore, Martin said that the programmer will double its original programming budget to $1 billion annually by 2018. That, coupled with a streamlining and cost efficiency program dubbed Turner 2020 – which will involve laying off nearly 1,500 workers – will put the programmer back on track.

 On the ratings front, Martin blamed some of the softness on broadband-only homes being included in the ratings mix, increased video on demand usage and a rise in online and mobile viewing. For example, Martin said that Turner’s The Last Ship, a ratings hit over the summer, saw a recent decline as viewers began catching up with the series on VOD.  Online, PC and mobile viewing also increased in the period, which affected TV ratings.

“We’re working hard with Nielsen,” Martin said adding that he was confident that any ratings measurement issues could be cleared up.

Martin also pledged to step up consumer products sales, licensing and merchandising on the kids’ front. He noted that Turner derives about 5% of total kids’ revenue from consumer products, licensing and merchandising , while other similar channels get more than half their revenue from those sources. Martin said Turner will take a collaborative approach – its Boomerang channel for instance will be the flanker network around the world for Cartoon Network. And he said Turner and Warner Bros., owners of such iconic brands as Looney Tunes, will approach the kids market as one company.

“We’re making a concerted effort on building global franchises with global characters,” Martin said.

While Plepler’s announcement that HBO will go over the top next year took most of the attention, he added that HBO and sister premium channel Cinemax  are having their best year in more than a decade – the 2.5 million subscriber added so far this year are putting the channels on their biggest growth path in 18 years.

Warner Bros. chief Tsujihara outlined new movie slates heavy with DC comic book characters – The Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam, the Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman all will headline their own films between 2017 and 2020 – and three movies between 2016 and 2020 from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts series.

Investors seemed pleased  – the stock was up about 4% in early trading and closed at $72.21 each, up 2.2% on a day when the Dow dropped 400 points earlier in the day – it too rebounded later in the day to close down about 173 points. Now it’s up to shareholders to decide whether there is reason to worry or not.

Turner Broadcasting System said Thursday that it has named Time Warner senior vice president and controller Pascal Deroches chief financial officer, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds John Kampfe, who currently holds the post. Kampfe has announced that he will leave Turner at the end of the year. He will pursue outside interests.

In his new role, Deroches will assume oversight of all financial operations of the company related to its worldwide news, entertainment, kids, sports, advertising and distribution sales and corporate units. Desroches will work closely with Turner parent company Time Warner on various financial matters, including forecasting and reporting.

"Pascal is a world-class finance executive," said Turner Broadcasting chairman and CEO John Martin  in a statement. "During his tenure as Time Warner's controller, he has been involved in virtually all matters important to Time Warner and has developed a deep understanding of Turner's business. He will be a key member of our senior executive team as we execute a strategy to extend our competitive leadership, deliver strong growth and exercise prudent capital allocation. I have the utmost respect for Pascal's professionalism and integrity, and appreciate the continuity that he brings to this critical Turner executive role."

Martin has been shaking up the ranks since becoming CEO in January. In June he introduced Turner 2020, a plan to shoft costs toward aeras with the most growth opportunities. In August, the company offered buyouts to about 500 company veterans,  

Desroches was most recently senior vice president and controller of Time Warner Inc., serving as the company's principal accounting officer and responsible for internal and external reporting, planning and analysis, as well as providing support for mergers & acquisitions activity and other significant transactions. He joined Time Warner in 2001 from KPMG LLP, where he was a partner in the Department of Professional Practice-Assurance & Advisory Services in New York. Previously, Desroches was a Professional Accounting Fellow with the Office of the Chief Accountant at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Less than six months after taking the helm of Turner Broadcasting System, CEO John Martin continues to put his stamp on the popular cable networks group, mapping out what appears to be a sweeping reorganization that could lead to more staff changes.

Dubbed “Turner 2020” — for the year the programmer will turn 50 — the initiative will build on past efforts and introduce new programs to drive growth.

“We’ve been shifting resources already, and I would ask that you think carefully about how and where to get the greatest return on the assets you control,” Martin wrote in a memo to employees. “This may mean staff changes. In fact, I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t.”

Just what Martin meant by that is unclear, and Turner executives have declined comment. But the home of such cable programming icons as TNT, TBS and CNN has been in a ratings slump lately, in part because of some channels’ reliance on older syndicated broadcast shows.

Already Turner has lost several key managers. In April, former Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin left to become CEO of the NBA Atlanta Hawks, and CNN chief operating officer and head of ad sales Greg D’Alba resigned. In March, Turner Animation Young Adults & Kids Media division president Stu Snyder and longtime Turner Broadcasting chief research officer Jack Wakshlag left.

Whether more heads will roll remains to be seen.

Most observers believe Turner president David Levy, who was named to that post in August, is relatively safe. But the jury is out on TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies president and head of programming Michael Wright.

Wright is under pressure for the ratings slump and faces competition for TNT’s NBA programming from Fox Sports. At the same time, Levy has said publicly that Wright is a candidate to replace Koonin.

Some observers have noted that Fox Broadcasting chairman of entertainment Kevin Reilly’s decision to step down from that post at the end of June has added some uncertainty to Wright’s future — losing out to Reilly for Koonin’s job could force Wright to leave.

But others said they believe the recent management turmoil is merely a function of having a new boss. Martin joined Turner in January after a five-year stint as CFO of Time Warner Inc., and new executives typically prefer to assemble their own teams.