Turner Entertainment Group sales and marketing president Mark Lazarus
announced Tuesday that the ad-sales staffs for Kids' WB! and Cartoon Network are
being combined under Cartoon executive vice president Kim McQuilken.
McQuilken continues to report to Lazarus.
The company said in its announcement that the four-week combined reach in
January for Kids' WB! and Cartoon in the key demographics -- kids two through 11
and six through 11 -- put that combination "head-to-head with the Nickelodeon
and CBS combo."
Merging Kids' WB! and Cartoon ad sales is "a natural progression," The WB
Television Network president Jed Petrick said in a prepared statement.
Jamie Kellner, during his two-year stint as Turner Broadcasting System Inc.
CEO -- a post he lost last week, when he returned to head The WB -- had
encouraged the cross-pollination of Pokemon, Powerpuff Girls,
Scooby-Doo and Yu-Gi-Oh on both networks.
But Turner's announcement Tuesday said programming and marketing for both
networks will remain "independent, yet collaborative."
