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by Staff -- Multichannel News, 2/2/2009 2:00:00 AM
OWN Names Norman CEO
Los Angeles — The Oprah Winfrey Network has tapped Christina Norman as CEO.
Norman, the former MTV president, will start her new job on Feb. 17, reporting to OWN’s board of directors.
Norman will oversee all business and creative areas of OWN, the fledgling cable channel and multiplatform media venture. OWN, which will be transitioned to the space currently occupied by Discovery Health Channel, has yet to announce a specific launch date, now indicating it will bow sometime late this year or early in 2010.
Norman will work closely with OWN Television president Robin Schwartz and Robert Tercek, president of digital media, who oversees Oprah.com and the OWN Web site, slated to launch later this year. Both Schwartz and Tercek will report directly to Norman.
“I’ve always had the utmost admiration and respect for Christina’s innovative strategies and management style,” said OWN chairman Oprah Winfrey in a statement. “She is a proven leader. Her shared values, passion, and enthusiasm make her a natural fit for OWN’s emerging platforms. We’re thrilled to have her.”
“Christina is a strong leader with proven operational skills and a record of creating contemporary and valuable media brands,” Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.
A veteran of MTV Networks for more than 17 years, Norman was named president of MTV in 2005. Prior to that, she served as president of sister service VH1.
“This is the job I’ve been working toward my entire career,” said Norman in a statement. “To be building a new channel inspired by Oprah Winfrey and backed by Discovery Communications is a challenge I welcome, and I am thrilled to bring their vision for OWN to life.”
Bicket Heads Cox Target Media
Atlanta — Longtime cable executive Greg Bicket has been named president of Cox Target Media, provider of the familiar blue Valpak coupons, after being interim president since November 2008.
Bicket had been senior vice president and region manager for Cox Communications’ New Orleans metro cable system, where he led its recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Cox Target Media is part of Cox Newspapers which, like the Cox cable operations, is owned by Cox Enterprises.
Mike Latino, vice president of field engineering at the New Orleans system, has been acting general manager since Bicket moved to Cox Target Media.
Valpak has been in the direct marketing industry for 40 years and reaches millions of consumers monthly through Valpak direct mail and Valpak.com. It distributes some 20 billion offers inserted in more than 521 million envelopes.
“Coupons are more relevant than ever before,” Bicket said in a statement. “People are searching for ways to save money on products and services, and businesses are looking for cost-effective, measurable media to attract customers.”
— Kent Gibbons
Tandberg Chief Cooney Departs
Duluth, Ga.— Eric Cooney has resigned as president and CEO of video-equipment vendor Tandberg Television to become the chief executive of Internap Network Services.
Cooney, 42, will become president and CEO of Internap, a provider of Internet data-center and content-distribution services, effective March 16. He takes over for James DeBlasio, who has resigned but will remain president and CEO until Cooney assumes the role.
Ericsson said it has initiated a search for Cooney’s replacement. The telecom and wireless equipment company acquired Tandberg Television in 2007 in a deal valued at $1.4 billion.
Cooney joined NDS’s digital video-equipment business in 1997, and that unit was acquired by Norway-based Tandberg Television in October 1999. He was named president and CEO of Tandberg in June 2003.
Internap, which has about 430 employees, is based in Atlanta. Tandberg’s U.S. operations are based in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Ga.
— Todd Spangler
SAG, AMPTP To Meet in L.A.
Los Angeles — The replacement of the chief negotiator for the Screen Actors Guild appears to have broken the ice in the stalemate with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The two guilds issued a terse announcement last week that the factions will meet in Los Angeles on Feb. 3 and 4.
SAG has been without a contract since last June, when its former negotiator, Doug Allen, and the union’s board of directors rejected the last, best offer from the producers.
The two sides are at odds on several issues, the thorniest of which is how actors will be compensated for content made for the Internet. The offer replicated compensation terms accepted by other Hollywood unions, such as those for writers and directors, for content originally telecast then rerun on the Internet, but the actors’ leadership believes that compensation is insufficient.
Given the state of the economy, though, more moderate members have suggested that SAG accept the compensation offered in this contract cycle, but bring the issue up again in negotiations in three years.
With the ouster of Allen, SAG has formed a new task force of union members and executives to meet with the producers. The meeting is scheduled to be at the AMPTP offices.
— Linda Haugsted
ESPN Initiates Hiring Freeze
Bristol, Conn. — Despite what he called a record year for ESPN, the sports network’s top executive told employees that as many as 200 jobs could be cut in the next year as the economy worsens, according to the Associated Press.
ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer, in an address to employees, also said that he is instituting a hiring freeze and won’t give raises to top execs, according to the AP. Bodenheimer said that the job cuts will mostly be open positions that haven’t been filled, but did not rule out the possibility of future layoffs.
He added that he is ordering a review of operations over the next few months to find ways to save money.
— Mike Farrell
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