Turner Broadcasting System named Stuart Snyder to lead its new unit housing cable networks, digital properties and other entertainment entities reaching kids and young adults.
Snyder -- who has been serving as senior vice president and general manager of Turner’s broadband-video-games network, GameTap, since 2005 -- is now executive VP and chief operating officer of Turner’s Animation, Young Adults & Kids Media outfit.
Based in Atlanta and reporting to Turner Entertainment Group president Mark Lazarus, Snyder, in addition to GameTap, will oversee linear TV channels Cartoon Network, late-night spinoff Adult Swim and classic Hanna-Barbera service Boomerang; digital businesses Cartoonnetwork.com, AdultSwim.com, Toonami Jetstream, Cartoon Network Video and broadband comedy network Super Deluxe; and two animation-production facilities, Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, Calif., and William Street Studios in Atlanta.
In addition, Snyder will work closely with Turner Broadcasting System International on Cartoon Network holdings in Asia, Japan, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Building a new operating structure around our company’s animation and digital entertainment assets and positioning Stu at its head signals the opportunity we see among kids and young adults and our intention to more aggressively play in that marketplace,” Lazarus said in a prepared statement.
“Stu is a builder with a great track record for defining and programming to targeted audiences,” he added. “In Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and, now, GameTap and Super Deluxe, he and his team have brands and platforms to leverage in creative, strategic new ways.”
Snyder’s appointment came almost three months after Cartoon Network GM Jim Samples resigned his position over an Adult Swim guerrilla-marketing campaign in Beantown went awry.
On Jan. 31, Boston came to a crawl after commuters and authorities discovered blinking light boards affixed to buildings, highway overpasses and subway-station walls. Thinking the outlined Mooninite character from Adult Swim staple Aqua Teen Hunger Force was an explosive device, the police, the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard shut down highways and waterways. Turner and its agency, Interference, were forced to pay a $2 million fine to state, local and national agencies to avoid prosecution over the stunt. Lazarus had been leading Cartoon in the interim.
Snyder rejoined Turner in 2005 as senior VP and GM of GameTap.
Synder’s resume also includes entries as president and CEO of live-action and animation production/distribution company Cinar, COO of World Wrestling Entertainment, president of USA Home Entertainment and president and COO of Feld Entertainment, whose franchises includes Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Prior to that, Snyder led Turner’s home entertainment division and held executive positions at Live Home Video and MGM/UA Home Entertainment.
