Sherwood to Leave Disney With Sky Going to Comcast: Reports

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Ben Sherwood, president of Disney/ABC Television Group and co-president of Disney Media Networks, is expected to leave the Walt Disney Co., according to published reports.

The departure follows Comcast winning the auction for Sky over 21st Century Fox. Fox has agreed to sell assets to Disney including its stake in Sky.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has reportedly decided to have Fox Networks Group head Peter Rice run Disney’s TV business once the acquisition of the Fox assets was completed.

Iger also wanted to find a slot for Sherwood in the non-fiction TV area, and having a global platform in Sky News might have created an appropriate job for Sherwood, a former executive producer of Good Morning America.

Sherwood was named head of the Disney/ABC TV Group in 2015 when Anne Sweeney left.

A Disney spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Jon Lafayette
Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.