Turner Broadcasting

AOL Time Warner-owned Turner Broadcasting System moved swiftly to restructure the company under its new president, Philip Kent, into three groups: entertainment, news and cartoons. Mark Lazarus, former president of sales and marketing for Turner Entertainment and president of Turner Sports, was promoted to the new position of president of TBS' Entertainment Group. He now also will be responsible for cable networks.

March Madness is going over the top. Turner Broadcasting, which along with CBS Corp. shares the rights for the annual NCAA college basketball tournament, is going to offer its coverage of the event over the Internet for $3.99. The 64-team NCAA tournament runs about a month and ends in early April. The championship game often draws more than 20 million viewers. Previously, people could watch games for free on the NCAA website, but not anymore. Games that CBS carries will remain available for free online.

March Madness is going over the top. Turner Broadcasting, which along with CBS Corp. shares the rights for the annual NCAA college basketball tournament, is going to offer its coverage of the event over the Internet for $3.99. The 64-team NCAA tournament runs about a month and ends in early April. The championship game often draws more than 20 million viewers. Previously, people could watch games for free on the NCAA website, but not anymore. Games that CBS carries will remain available for free online.

Robert J. Wussler, a CNN co-founder and a longtime CBS executive, has died after a long illness. He was 73. Wussler died June 5 at his home in Westport, Conn., spokesman Arthur Sando said. Robert Joseph Wussler was born Sept. 8, 1936, in Newark, N.J., and graduated in 1957 from Seton Hall University with a bachelor's in communication arts. He started his 21-year career at CBS working in the mailroom and rose to become head of the sports division and then president of the network.

The Atlanta-based company notified 20 cable TV companies that it expects commitment letters by next Wednesday, if the cable operators want to invest in Turner Broadcasting System, a Turner spokesman said. Turner has been negotiating to sell $550 million in common and preferred shares to reduce the debt assumed in its acquisition of MGM/UA Entertainment Co. last year.

Turner Broadcasting System characterized CBS' reply papers, filed with the FCC last Friday, as "merely a repeat of the unfounded and erroneous assertions found in its original petition to deny." TBS added that "CBS' critique of the financial projections contained in our opposition papers was to be expected. Among other things, CBS was forced to assume a precipitous decline in its ratings in order to support its tenuous position."

William C. Bevins Jr., who for years has handled the often hectic job of financing the business ventures thought up by maverick broadcaster R. E. (Ted) Turner, has turned in his resignation as chief financial officer of Turner Broadcasting System. According to some reports, he may become an executive for Los Angeles financier Kirk Kerkorian. The 41-year-old Bevins was not available for comment.

Turner Broadcasting System Inc. announced the promotions of four senior executives in a further realignment of top management at the cable television giant. Paul Beckham, who has been in charge of finance and administration at TBS since 1987, has been named president of Turner Cable Network Sales, which handles sales and marketing of the company's programming to cable affiliates. William H. Grumbles Jr.

Turner Broadcasting System reported a $2.4-million profit for the third quarter of 1985, but Ted Turner's communication empire showed a $5-million loss for the first nine months of the year. Turner Broadcasting reported that it sold its common stock in CBS Inc., an unsuccessful Turner takeover target, for a net gain of $1.7 million. Considering legal and other costs and tax benefits, the company said the CBS transaction resulted in an extraordinary gain of $627,000 in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

NBC, on the prowl for new outlets for its huge inventory of TV programming, is proposing to purchase a major stake in Turner Broadcasting System, according to executives close to the companies. But the offer will succeed, executives say, only if NBC can persuade the 18 cable firms that last June bought a 37% stake in the company that the deal won't jeopardize the independence of the cable and broadcast concern.

For more than four decades, the broadcast networks have set aside a week in May for staging splashy presentations in Manhattan to unveil their fall schedules for advertisers. The annual ritual kicks off television's ad sales season, known as the upfronts, when the networks sell more than two-thirds of their commercials for the coming season. Cable powerhouse Turner Broadcasting System two years ago crashed the party. The division of Time Warner Inc. decided to pitch its shows on TNT and TBS during the week reserved for major broadcast networks ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC. Turner's message: It was now one of the big boys.

The great programming migration to cable continues. Turner Broadcasting, just one week after signing former NBC late-night host Conan O'Brien, has teamed up with CBS in a 14-year, $10.8-billion deal for television and Internet rights to the immensely popular NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament. The move comes as broadcast television struggles with rising programming costs and greater competition for viewers and advertisers. Although the NCAA tournament is a strong performer for CBS, the costs of covering the games were starting to outweigh the benefits for the network.

Further expanding its reach in India, Time Warner Inc.'s Turner Broadcasting is shelling out $126.5 million for a 92% stake in NDTV Imagine, a popular Hindi general entertainment channel, and some smaller assets. Turner already owns several networks in India, including versions of CNN and Cartoon Network. It also owns Pogo, a children's channel. "India continues to be a key priority for us," said Steve Marcopoto, president of Turner Broadcasting's Asia Pacific unit. Besides NDTV Imagine, Turner is taking control of NDTV Imagine Pictures, a movie production company, and a couple of smaller networks.

Turner Broadcasting has agreed to pay all costs of a security scare triggered by a marketing campaign that disrupted travel in Boston, a spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Menino said. Travel on major roadways and rail lines was suspended as police responded in large numbers Wednesday after discovering the battery-powered devices, which were intended to promote a cartoon on a Turner cable network, in Boston and surrounding cities. Authorities blew up one of them.

Hollywood's last dalliance with video games ended with the realization that expertise in making movies and TV shows that people like to watch doesn't necessarily carry over into making games they want to play. One by one, though, major entertainment companies that had bailed out of the games business over the last decade are jumping back in as a way to tap younger audiences.

AOL Time Warner-owned Turner Broadcasting System moved swiftly to restructure the company under its new president, Philip Kent, into three groups: entertainment, news and cartoons. Mark Lazarus, former president of sales and marketing for Turner Entertainment and president of Turner Sports, was promoted to the new position of president of TBS' Entertainment Group. He now also will be responsible for cable networks.

After months of uncertainty, the famed Hollywood studio that portrayed the burning of Atlanta in "Gone With the Wind" came under the ownership Tuesday of a modern Atlanta empire: Turner Broadcasting System. The name Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer itself also made a comeback under new proprietor Ted Turner, who owns about 80% of the broadcasting enterprise. In recent years, following a merger with United Artists Corp., the movie company has been known as MGM/UA Entertainment Co.

The NFL has a new cable partner, Ted Turner. Under a four-year agreement announced Thursday, Turner Broadcasting, beginning this year, will televise Sunday night games during the first half of the NFL season, with ESPN expected to handle the second half. ESPN, saying it is still negotiating with the NFL, had no announcement. Turner reportedly paid $450 million for the rights to 35 regular-season games and 12 exhibition games over four years.

It should be noted that the four classic MGM films cited by Robert W. Welkos as part of that company's "storied history" are no longer owned by the studio ("A Lion Laid Low," June 9). They and about 2,000 other pre-1986 MGM titles and the studio's fabled Culver City lot were sold to Turner Broadcasting 16 years ago. Thanks to the foresight of Ted Turner, the films' current owner, AOL Time Warner--through its far-flung cable television and home video divisions--now profits handsomely from the toil of long-gone MGM stars, writers, technicians and financial investments.

After an intense bidding war by major TV broadcasters, Fox Network and Turner Broadcasting joined forces and captured the television rights to the blockbuster movie "Spider-Man" for an estimated $60 million, officials from Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed Friday.