DIS Walt Disney Co

By Joe Flint 

Walt Disney Co. has tapped former Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment executive Bruce Rosenblum for a senior role in its television unit.

A well-regarded former Warner Bros. Television Group President, Mr. Rosenblum will become president of business operations for the Disney/ABC Television Group, a unit comprised of the ABC broadcast network as well as several cable networks, including the Disney Channel and Freeform.

Mr. Rosenblum will report to Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group and co-chairman with ESPN Chief Executive John Skipper of the Disney Media Networks unit.

Adding Mr. Rosenblum creates a new layer of management at the Disney/ABC Television Group and indicates that Mr. Sherwood, who previously ran ABC News, wanted a right-hand man well-versed with running the business side of an entertainment operation.

The move will free up Mr. Sherwood to focus more on the creative aspects of Disney's television operations as well as focus on the dynamic shifts going on in the media industry, with regards to how content is consumed and monetized.

"I'm excited to focus more on the big picture and the critical strategic questions that our business faces," Mr. Sherwood said. Having 17 direct reports was unwieldy, he said, and the addition of Mr. Rosenblum will allow him to "spend even more time on the creative parts and making great shows."

Mr. Rosenblum will be heavily involved in strategy and the day-to-day operations of the unit. Specifically, he will have responsibility for all business operations including global distribution, affiliate sales and marketing, digital media strategy, engineering and information technology. He also will have oversight of all advertising divisions of the unit.

"I've long admired the Walt Disney Company," Mr. Rosenblum said, adding that he wants to "add value to what they already do."

Mr. Rosenblum and Mr. Sherwood first discussed the job over burgers near Disney's Burbank headquarters after a recruiter suggested the former Warner Bros. executive for the position. Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger also had a hand in wooing Mr. Rosenblum, people familiar with the matter said. In addition, Mr. Rosenblum has close ties to Alan Horn, the former head of Warner Bros. movie unit who is now chairman of Walt Disney Studios.

After more than a quarter of a century at Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., Mr. Rosenblum left in 2013 after he was passed over in favor of Kevin Tsujihara for the top job at the movie and television studio. Mr. Rosenblum went to the production company Legendary Entertainment as president of television and digital media. He left Legendary earlier this year after it was acquired by China's Dalian Wanda Group.

At Warner Bros., Mr. Rosenblum oversaw operations for one of the most successful television producers in the industry. Despite not owning a big broadcast network to feed programming to, Warner Bros. remains one of the dominant suppliers of shows to ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

"There is very little here that I haven't had experience with, it's just a larger scale sandbox than what I had at Warner Bros.," Mr. Rosenblum said.

The addition of Mr. Rosenblum is the latest change to the management team at Disney. There were leadership changes at Disney's theme parks and consumer products units earlier this year. Also, there is still no clear successor to Mr. Iger who is scheduled to retire by June 2018. Former Chief Operating Officer Tom Staggs was once seen as the heir apparent until earlier this year, when he resigned after Disney's board decided to broaden the search for Mr. Iger's successor. His position remains unfilled.

Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2016 13:42 ET (17:42 GMT)

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