For the Record

Herzog Returns to Head Comedy

New York— As expected, Doug Herzog is coming back to Comedy Central.

He'll return as president in early May to the network he headed from 1995-98, and be based in Los Angeles.

Herzog — president of USA Network since 2001 — succeeds Larry Divney, who's retiring from the Viacom Inc.-owned network this summer, officials said.

During Herzog's earlier tenure, Comedy launched its biggest hits, South Park and The Daily Show.

Herzog, who believes the network still has major upside, said he wants to find a way to crack the scripted comedy genre — although he said the network doesn't want to do traditional sitcoms. He pointed to the network's successful skein Reno 911 as an example of unique, scripted comedy content.

"I'd like to find a way to re-invent scripted television comedy," he said.

Herzog's status at USA changed when NBC moved last fall to purchase Vivendi Universal Entertainment's television holdings, also including cable networks Sci Fi Channel and Trio.

NBC — which is still looking to finalize the $14 billion deal — recently named NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker as president of its entertainment, news and cable group. Many believe that once the deal is finalized, the former VUE networks will fall under his purview.

Vivendi Sues A Diller Subsidiary

Paris—Vivendi Universal S.A. filed suit March 17 against USANi Sub LLC, a unit of Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp.

The French media giant said Diller is delaying its plans to merge its Vivendi Universal Entertainment U.S. arm with General Electric Co.'s NBC television unit.

Vivendi said it has satisfied legal obligations to USANi by putting up letters of credit backed by U.S. Treasury securities to cover the preferred VUE shares Diller owns, Reuters said.

However, Diller — who, through his company, has veto rights over the merger — rejected the letters of credit and "is attempting to gain leverage" in tax-related litigation with Vivendi that "has nothing to do with" the preferred shares, Vivendi said in its complaint, Reuters reported.

USANi is trying to rewrite the contract by demanding that it be allowed to draw on the letters of credit if VUE's net worth falls below a threshold amount, Vivendi added in its complaint.

Vivendi's complaint was filed in Delaware Chancery Court.

SBCA Taps DalBello To Take the Helm

Washington— The Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association named Richard DalBello its new president on March 17.

DalBello, 50, is joining the SBCA, the trade group that represents DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications before Congress and federal agencies, from his position as president of the Satellite Industry Association, a post he held for the past three years.

DalBello, who replaces Andrew Wright, starts in his new position March 30.

FCC's Abernathy Backs Family-Friendly Tiers

Washington—Federal Communications Commission member Kathleen Abernathy supports the creation of family-friendly cable-programming tiers to accommodate parents who don't want to pay for indecent programming they end up blocking electronically.

"As a consumer, I don't want to pay for things I don't want," Abernathy told reporters March 18. "It would seem to me that there must be a market for cable packages where you pick 10 or 15 choices, or you pick 15 or 20."

Abernathy said she's not about to push for regulations and does not favor an à la carte approach. But she indicated that the cable industry would help itself by giving consumers more power in the selection of their programming choices.

Discovery to Form New Education Unit

Silver Spring, Md. —Discovery Communications Inc. has combined its newly acquired United Learning Inc. and its Discovery Channel School to form a new business initiative, Discovery Education.

Steve Sidel will head the new unit as executive vice president. He had been senior vice president and deputy general counsel for DCI.

DCI acquired United Learning — a producer and distributor of audiovisual, health and prevention educational products and services — this past fall.

Discovery Channel School's product line includes more than 600 videos, CD-ROMs and print resources for classroom use.