The president of Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution since 2006, he will step down at year’s end, segueing into a consultant role. Prior to joining WBDTD, starting in 1997 Werner was EVP of distribution for The WB network, increasing its U.S. coverage from 56% to 94% and was a key member of the Warner Bros. team that formed The CW network, and led the initial rollout of its distribution.
Marcus, Sullivan Wrestle Over DIY Programs
Mort Marcus, co-president of Debmar-Mercury (center), says that station groups that produce their own shows and, in some cases, leave them on the air longer than they deserve, are making the tough syndication business even tougher. Fellow panelist Bob Sullivan, the chief of programming for Tegna, one of the do-it-yourself station groups, saw thing differently. The full TV2020 panel (l-r): Frank Cicha of Fox, Ken Werner of Warner Bros., Marcus, Arthur Hasson of Sinclair and Bob Sullivan of Tegna. (Photo: Erica Keane).
Fox Television Stations’ Frank Cicha, Sinclair’s Arthur Hasson, Debmar-Mercury’s Mort Marcus, Tegna’s Bob Sullivan and Warner Bros. Ken Werner will look beyond the networks for promising new programming opportunities at TVNewsCheck’s second annual TV2020 conference in October.
