The Walt Disney Co. rescued Steve Bornstein from dot-com hell, naming the
former ESPN chairman president of ABC Television.
Bornstein -- who ran Walt Disney Internet Group since September 1999 after
stints running ABC Inc., ABC Sports and ESPN -- will oversee the ABC network,
the company's 10 owned-and-operated stations and its syndication arm, Buena
Vista Television.
He replaces Robert Callahan, who resigned for personal reasons that required
him to move to the East Coast, according to Disney.
Bornstein, who spent most of his career building ESPN, was assigned by Disney
to run its Internet group not long before last year's crash of dot-com stocks.
Bornstein sold a good chunk of WDIG's assets and laid off 535 employees in
February and March.
WDIG president Steve Wadsworth will now report to Disney president Bob Iger,
the company said.
