Former TBS Superstation president Bill Burke was named CEO last week of Resort Sports Network Inc., a mountain-sports cable network that has the financial backing of Amos Hostetter.
Burke-who, until January, was president and CEO of news and information for Time Warner Digital Media-will move to Portland, Maine, from Atlanta for his new job, officials said last week.
Burke, 34, starts April 17 at multimedia company RSN, which offers mountain-sports and outdoor-lifestyle information, and is expanding to the Internet and broadband.
RSN got a financial boost last year when cable pioneer Hostetter' s Pilot House Associates LLC invested $5 million. The company is in the process of securing another $25 million from backers. Founder Rory Strunk will stay on as "creator and chief vision officer" and work with Burke.
RSN now reaches about 1 million cable subscribers through carriage in 56 winter ski and summer resort areas.
Burke left Time Warner Digital-where he oversaw the Internet strategy for CNN.com and Time Inc. Interactive-in January. Prior to his stint there, he was president of TBS, and he also oversaw the development and launch of Turner South, the first regional entertainment network.
Burke said he likes RSN' s concept, which is to offer a highly targeted multimedia vehicle, and the company' s entrepreneurial spirit, which is embodied in Strunk. Burke added that he put a lot of stock in Hostetter' s faith in RSN.
"I trust his estimation of a company," said Burke, who will also be getting equity in RSN.
On its cable network, RSN carries programming from six low-power TV stations it owns and 24 station affiliates-broadcast outlets located in resort areas such as Vail, Colo., and Lake Tahoe, Calif., according to Strunk.
RSN' s priority now is RSN.com.TV, which launched with MediaOne Group Inc. in Boston; Time Warner Cable in Portland; Bay TV in San Francisco; and AT & T Broadband in Denver.
RSN.com.TV is aired as a five-minute segment five minutes before the hour on CNN Headline News, and includes-all on one screen-live content from RSN' s Web site, as well as TV programming from RSN' s stations in New Hampshire, Colorado and California. The zoned segments include resort weather, event coverage, lifestyle-sports tips and last-minute resort-travel deals.
Time Warner also carries RSN.com.TV on broadband in Portland.
There are 90 seconds of ad avails during the five-minute on-air segments, and RSN either keeps some of that time in a barter arrangement, or RSN and the cable operators sell the time-nationally and locally, respectively-and share the revenue.
