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Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes is looking to shake up his $30 billion media empire — and the next move will be naming a new leader for Warner Bros. Entertainment, Hollywood sources said.
Bewkes, after a two-year bake-off among three executives, is close to naming a winner, sources said.
Bruce Rosenblum, the Warner Bros. TV chief, is said to be the favored choice of Bewkes, sources said.
Just last month Bewkes named Richard Plepler to the top slot at HBO, and Tinseltown tipsters believe the shake-up will continue with a Warner Bros. move before Dec. 31.
Time Warner denies Rosenblum has been chosen, saying, “No decision has been made regarding succession at Warner Bros.”
Insiders insist there’s no news and that the handicapping is incorrect since a decision is yet to be made.
The executive bake-off included Rosenblum, Jeff Robinov, who runs movies, and Kevin Tsujihara, the home entertainment boss.
The bake-off kicked off in September 2010 after the exit of Warner chief Alan Horn.
The move, if it comes to pass, will run against recent moves in Hollywood — where TV heads promoted to oversee film studios haven’t fared well.
Disney’s Rich Ross, who rose from the Disney Channel to head Disney Studios, got short shrift from the notoriously cliquey movie business. He left the post in March after 30 months on the job.
Former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker, who spent a career in TV before being named CEO of NBC Universal in 2007, had a tough time with the talent agencies. Zucker left the post in early 2011.
Rosenblum appears to be in a slightly different camp, however, since Barry Meyer, the current CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, also hailed from TV.
Still, Warner insiders suggest other scenarios could play out.
For example, Bewkes may name Rosenblum to a bigger post, almost certainly overseeing TV and movies.
Also, insiders said, Bewkes may take the ad-supported cable networks and roll them into a new structure, with Rosenblum at its helm.
Rosenblum, 54, heads a huge TV group which makes hits such as “Big Bang Theory” and “Two Broke Girls.”
The unit is on track to rack up record revenue of $5 billion in 2012, said Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClement.
Operating income grew at a 9 percent compound annual growth rate between 2006 and 2011, in part because of the explosion of new windows from cable VOD to Netflix to Amazon, all requiring syndicated content.
As for the movie division, one source said, “They’re in a transitional period” with tentpoles “Harry Potter” and “Batman” now past and the new franchises yet to roll around.