The dust has cleared at Columbia TriStar and syndication head Steve Mosko
has been selected to run a newly combined division overseeing programming for
cable, network and syndication.
Sony Pictures Entertainment, which last week announced
it was cutting back its network TV production arm Columbia TriStar Network Television, has put all of its TV eggs into Columbia TriStar Television Distribution's basket.
The long-time syndication company is being renamed Columbia TriStar Domestic Television and will inherit the network programming wing.
Sony Pictures Entertainment President Mel Harris said in a statement, "Television production remains a key part of our business, but the traditional network business model doesn't make economic sense anymore for independent suppliers."
Sony executives say Columbia TriStar Network Television
will be "downsized" and will ultimately be absorbed into the newly named
Columbia TriStar Domestic Television.
The studio says about 20% of its workforce, including employees on the syndication side, will lose their jobs.
As for Mosko, he's been overseeing Columbia TriStar Television Distribution since July 2000 and has helped expand the syndication division into first-run cable programming with shows at Lifetime, TBS and other outlets.
"In a world where the distinction between cable and broadcast networks has been blurred, where Ripley's Believe It or Not can launch and be successful on cable as well as air on The WB, were one-stop shopping to the full-range of domestic buyers," Mosko says.
- Joe Schlosser
