AOL Time Warner Inc. shook up the ranks at Turner Broadcasting System Inc.,
naming The WB Television Network CEO Jamie Kellner chairman and CEO of the unit,
which will add a new TV-networks group that includes broadcaster The WB.
Former Turner Broadcasting CEO Terry McGuirk 'decided to step back from a
direct operating role' and will be vice chairman of the unit, the company said
Tuesday.
Turner Broadcasting president and chief operating officer Steven Heyer 'will
be leaving the company to pursue other interests,' the statement added.
In addition to The WB, Kellner will oversee all TBS networks, including TBS
Superstation, Turner Network Television, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies,
Turner South, Cable News Network, CNN Headline News, CNNfn, CNN/SI and
Boomerang.
The former Fox Broadcasting president will also be in charge of the National
Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks, the National Hockey League's Atlanta
Thrashers, Major League Baseball's Atlanta Braves, The Goodwill Games, CNNRadio
and all international TBS networks.
Turner Broadcasting chief financial officer Wayne Pace was also named vice
chairman of the division.
AOL Time Warner executives said the new TV-networks group will share
advertising, marketing, program-development and Internet resources.
'This move puts us in a better position to superserve all of our
constituencies, from advertisers and business partners to cable operators,
broadcast affiliates and the creative community,' AOL Time Warner co-COO Bob
Pittman said in a prepared statement.
'Our job today is to continue building the tremendous momentum behind our
broadcast and cable networks, while at the same time creating new networks and
products,' Kellner said in a prepared statement.
