Time Inc. stayed inside the company to tap Matt Bean, the top digital editor at Sports Illustrated, to be the new editor of Entertainment Weekly.
EW has always had close ties to People, and under the new lineup, those ties are expected to grow tighter.
Bean will oversee EW’s weekly print edition as well as its digital operations and will report to People’s Jesse Cagle, who is now the editorial director of both.
That is a change in the reporting structure.
Cagle was named editor of People, the No. 1 money-maker at Time Inc., only last month, when he replaced Larry Hackett, who was booted after an eight-year run.
Bean’s ability to think on his feet on live TV factored strongly into the decision, insiders said.
Cagle, Bean’s predecessor at EW, was a constant presence on the red carpet at Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe awards shows and had co-hosted a pre-Oscar show on ABC for the past three years.
Bean joined Time Inc. from Rodale in 2012 .
As the editor of SportsIllustrated.com, he launched a live daily Web talk show, “SI Now.”
Sports Illustrated said that Managing Editor Paul Fichtenbaum will oversee the operation while searching for a successor .