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News Briefs: Turner Won’t Seek Re-Election to TW Board

Feb 27, 2006  •  Post A Comment

CNN founder and cable maverick Ted Turner said last Friday he will not seek re-election to the Time Warner board when his term ends later this year. The announcement comes amid years of speculation over what Mr. Turner’s role at the media giant would be after his 2003 resignation from the vice chairman post. Mr. Turner has reduced his stake in Time Warner over the years. Time Warner also announced that Carla Hills, former U.S. trade representative, would not seek re-election to the board. Both Mr. Turner and Ms. Hills will continue to serve on the Time Warner board until the next annual meeting, often scheduled for May.



Fox Cable Networks to Acquire Turner South

Fox Cable Networks reached an agreement last Thursday with Turner Broadcasting System to acquire regional sports and entertainment network Turner South. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction does not include the Atlanta Braves baseball team, which, along with Turner South, TBS parent Time Warner has been trying to sell since December. Turner South reaches about 8 million subscribers in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina and parts of western North Carolina. The network has long-term local broadcast rights to the MLB’s Atlanta Braves, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers.



Haskins, Two WB Execs Join The CW

Rick Haskins has been named executive VP of marketing and brand strategy for CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment’s newly formed broadcast network, The CW. Mr. Haskins, most recently executive VP and general manager for Lifetime Television, will direct and oversee all phases of marketing for the new network and will be responsible for constructing The CW brand and formulating a launch campaign. The CW also named Mitch Nedick executive VP and chief financial officer and Michael Ross executive VP of business affairs. Mr. Nedick had been executive VP of finance and operations of The WB Network and Mr. Ross previously was The WB’s senior VP of business affairs.



William Morris Agency Promotes Ferriter, Rosen

The William Morris Agency has promoted John Ferriter to worldwide head of nonscripted television and Jon Rosen to head of East Coast television. Mr. Ferriter is involved in representing such clients as Larry King, Ryan Seacrest, Jeff Foxworthy, Leeza Gibbons and Nancy O’Dell. Before his promotion Mr. Ferriter was senior VP of television cable syndication, network reality department, and head of network alternative television. Mr. Rosen is based in WMA’s New York office and his clients include Rachael Ray, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Spike Lee, Bobby Flay, Donny Deutsch and Giada De Laurentiis. Before his promotion Mr. Rosen was a senior VP and headed the agency’s cable and syndication television department on the East Coast.



Emmy Voting Procedures Changed

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is changing the way outstanding series and lead actors in series nominees are chosen for the prime-time Emmy awards, with a blue-ribbon panel being added between initial nominations and selection of the final five nominees. In addition, directors and casting executives will now be eligible to vote in acting categories. Starting this year the top 10 vote-getters in best comedy and drama series categories will be submitted to the panel, which will determine the final five nominees in each category. For lead actor and actress categories, the top 15 vote-getters will be submitted to panels that will determine the final five nominees. The blue-ribbon panels will comprise about 25 members, who will view the episodes submitted for consideration before selecting the five final nominees. The panels are an expansion of a system already in place for the guest performance and variety music performance categories, said John Leverence, the academy’s senior VP for awards.