Edward Bleier, a key leader in Time Warner Inc.’s cable division, died October 17 at the age of 94. Bleier was behind the development of basic cable networks such as Nickelodeon and MTV at Warner Bros., and oversaw animation there.
Bleier was born in New York City in 1929. He grew up in Queens and got early experience in journalism while in high school, when he was a stringer for The New York Times and other New York newspapers. He started at Syracuse University in 1947 and studied radio, working on a college radio program written by William Safire, who went on to a career at the Times, with Dick Clark as the announcer.
Bleier and Safire stayed friends well beyond college. Both introduced each other to their future wives, reported the New York Times. Bleier married Magda Palacci, a French journalist who was New York bureau chief for Paris Match, in 1973.
Bleier and Safire agreed to drop out of Syracuse in 1949, and Bleier eventually returned to get his degree in 1994.
Bleier started his TV career at channel 5 in New York, now WNYW, then WABD and part of DuMont. He moved to ABC in the early ‘50s, starting at WABC New York and moving to the network. He licensed Looney Tunes cartoons, which were produced by Warner Bros., packaging them as Saturday-morning viewing for kids. He also ran ABC’s daytime programming division.
After 14 years at ABC, Bleier moved to Warner Bros. in 1969 to run its New York programming and sales office. He worked with Gustave Hauser, who built the QUBE interactive cable system, which offered pay-per-view, among other features. From 1986 to 2000, he was president of domestic pay TV, cable and network features. His division launched basic cable networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV and The Movie Channel.
He also had a stint as president of Warner Bros. Animation, where he continued to work on Looney Tunes, and worked with Steven Spielberg on a trio of animated series, including Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures.
In 2003, Bleier authored the book The Thanksgiving Ceremony: New Traditions for America’s Family Feast, and Safire wrote the foreword.
He retired from Time Warner in 2005, and continued to consult for the company. In 2005, Syracuse’s Center for the Study of Popular Television was renamed the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture.
Bleier lived in Manhattan and East Hampton. His wife Magda survives him.
