Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes had better hope this CEO switch goes more smoothly than the last one.
Yesterday, Bewkes shifted his chief financial officer, John Martin, into the top slot at Turner Broadcasting, capping a year of management reshuffles. Martin replaces Phil Kent, who will remain CEO until the end of the year. After that, Kent will stay on as chairman until his contract expires at the end of 2014.
When Bewkes picked home-entertainment boss Kevin Tsujihara to succeed Barry Meyer atop Warner Bros., he lost two other top executives — TV head Bruce Rosenblum and movie chief Jeff Robinov. Both were unhappy at being passed over for the top job.
Similar to the Warner Bros. shake-up, Martin’s ascent could come as a disappointment to others who may have had their eyes on the job, including Turner President David Levy, who oversees sports and advertising, among other duties.
Bewkes is also nearing the end of his search for a new CEO of Time Inc. to replace lame-duck Laura Lang. Former Time Inc. CFO Michael Klingensmith, the current publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, is the front-runner to lead the magazine unit, which will be spun off as a separate company by the end of the year.
“Time Warner has a tough history of CEO changes,” said one source. “They seem to leave them hanging around.”
Sources say Kent was resigned to ending his time at the company when his contract came up in 2014.
While he is credited with making big bucks from Turner’s entertainment networks, particularly sports-heavy TBS, he also presided over a precipitous ratings slide at CNN.
Martin’s new appointment gives him operational experience and puts him in line to succeed Bewkes. Turner Broadcasting is the media giant’s biggest revenue and profit generator.
Martin takes charge of top entertainment networks TNT and TBS, along with reality-focused TruTV and news network CNN. The entertainment networks, in particular, are facing greater competition these days.
“It’s about refreshing the brand,” analyst Rich Tullo of Albert Fried & Co. told The Post. “When you look at Turner versus FX, USA and AMC, there’s no reason to think [the hits] can’t be as big.”
Martin’s biggest task will be boosting ad rates for the cable networks and the fees charged to pay-TV providers to carry the channels. Bewkes said last year that 2013-2016 will be “the biggest affiliate-renewal cycle in years.”
Time Warner has a goal of achieving double-digit annual revenue growth in affiliate fees.