ABC unveils reorganized programming operations

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Walt Disney Co.’s ABC has finalized a complex consolidation of its ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios units that it hopes will streamline its programming operations.

The restructuring and creation of the ABC Entertainment Group, which was announced in January and took six months to complete, will combine many of the business functions of the two units but keep some of the creative operations separate. Steve McPherson, who was president of ABC Entertainment and is now president of the new entity, said in a statement that the reorganization will ‘make us a stronger, more efficient team.’

While the creation of the ABC Entertainment Group was positioned at the time as an effort to integrate departments that were not always in sync, another motivation was economic. ABC is in cost-cutting mode and earlier this year cut 400 positions across the company including in its entertainment operations. About 35 more positions will be eliminated in the completion of this merger. Its sister cable company ESPN is also shedding 200 jobs this year.

When Disney announced the merger in January, the company said the new unit’s ‘primary mandate will be to develop and produce compelling programming for broadcast on ABC.’ That has been an issue as of late and a concern for the network. ABC did not get many new shows out of its sister studio for its upcoming fall lineup. When the network unveiled its fall schedule to advertisers last month,eight of its 11 new shows came from outside suppliers. While that means that if many of the shows flop, the damage to ABC’s bottom line is not as bad as it would be if it owned the shows, it also means that if any become hits, the company won’t be in a position to reap as much as it would if it owned the show.

Probably the most significant change as a result of the new structure is the elimination of the current programming units at both the network and the studio. Current programming departments usually take over the day-to-day management of a series after it is developed and put on the schedule. Under this structure, the development teams who worked on cultivating new shows will now stick with them through their run on the network.

Under the new structure, McPherson’s top lieutenant is Executive Vice President Jeff Bader, the network’s scheduling guru who will now also oversee distribution for the unit across all platforms. Barry Jossen, who had been a key executive at ABC Studios will also serve as executive vice president with oversight over creative and production while Executive Vice President Suzanne Patmore-Gibbs will be responsible for scripted programming.

Kim Rozenfeld, ABC’s senior vice president of current programming, is leaving his post but expected to sign a production deal with the network.

-- Joe Flint