As first reported in B&C, John Nogawski was named president of CBS Television Distribution.
Reporting directly to CBS chief Leslie Moonves, Nogawski will oversee all creative, business and administrative operations for CBS’ domestic syndication company.
He will step into a role left by the sudden passing of CEO Roger King Dec. 8.
“This is a big move. It’s the end of one era, which was Roger, who is a legend in our business, evolving into a new CBS moving forward,” Nogawski said in an interview.
Nogawski, formerly a co-president and chief operating officer of the company, beat out his counterpart, Robert Madden, for the job. However, Madden agreed to stay on in the newly created position of senior executive vice president.
In his new post, Madden will be responsible for overseeing the company's programming partnerships with Sony Pictures Television for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, and with Harpo Productions for The Oprah WinfreyShow, among other duties. He will report to Nogawski.
Terry Wood also continues as president of creative affairs and development.
Nogawski said that while much in the company will remain the same, he looks forward to increasing the focus on new-media opportunities, adding, “18 months ago, I spent 90% of my time focusing on existing franchises. Now it’s maybe 60% and the other 40% trying to figure out exactly how I can grow our assets in these new arenas."
Nogawski and Madden have shared leadership responsibilities and titles since King World Productions and CBS Paramount were officially combined in September 2006.
“John has a resume of success across all areas of syndication -- first-run and off-network programming, as well as both station and media sales,” Moonves said in a statement confirming the moves. “He has been instrumental in nurturing a path to syndication for our owned programming and coming up with new, innovative revenue-generating opportunities through our program library, integrated marketing efforts and in the digital space."
Nogawski inherits the luxury of overseeing as many as nine out of 10 of syndication’s highest-rated shows, including genre leaders The Oprah Winfrey Show, Entertainment Tonight, Wheel of Fortune, Judge Judy and Everybody Loves Raymond. CBS TV Distribution also produces and distributes Dr. Phil, The Insider and Inside Edition and distributes Jeopardy!, which, like Wheel, is produced by Sony. The top shows on its roster generate $300 million-$500 million in annual revenues.
He is a 25-year veteran of Paramount and CBS Television Distribution, joining the company in 1983. In March 2002, he became president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television, heading up distribution, marketing and ad sales for CBS Paramount’s Entertainment Tonight and its spinoff, The Insider; the top-two court shows, Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown; talk show Montel Williams; and all off-network product such as Frasier, NCIS and Medium.
Madden was King’s right-hand man for 20 years, allowing King to focus on selling shows and other big-picture projects. In 1987, Madden was a Beverly Hills-based attorney who began representing the King family, handling its business, personal and financial affairs. In 1996, he was named executive VP of King World.
Madden was instrumental in the merger of King World with CBS for $2.5 billion in 2000. When the company was finally combined with Paramount Domestic Television in 2006, he began sharing the top responsibilities and titles with Nogawski.
Paige Albiniak contributed to this article.
