DIS Walt Disney Co

By Joe Flint 

When Ben Sherwood was president of ABC News, he was notorious for calling the control room at all hours with tips, corrections and queries.

"He'd send notes at 11:30 at night to my clients who are anchors on 'Nightline.' The guy is relentless," said United Talent Agency partner Jay Sures.

That relentlessness rankled some, but it pushed ABC's "Good Morning America" past NBC's "Today" as the most-watched morning show in 2012 and helped "World News Tonight" close the gap against NBC's top-rated "Nightly News."

It also got Mr. Sherwood promoted to president of the Disney/ABC Television Group and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks. With the exception of ESPN, Mr. Sherwood oversees Walt Disney Co.'s TV operations, which include the ABC network and stations, cable networks ABC Family and Disney Channel and all TV production.

In this role, Mr. Sherwood signs off on all programming and distribution strategies including this week's name change of ABC Family to Freeform and where and how Disney should sell its shows. He also sweats the small stuff such as getting heavily involved in the promotion and marketing of last year's Academy Awards telecast, according to executive producer Craig Zadan.

Almost a year into the job, the 51-year-old has had to take on the immense challenges facing the television industry--but is still looking to make his mark. He is among the next generation of media leaders who must confront cord-cutting and ad-skipping, which are threatening the core of the TV business. At the same time, the competition for viewers is intensifying, with more than 400 scripted shows produced in 2015.

There are also some new headaches looming at Mr. Sherwood's old stamping grounds. "Good Morning America" now trails NBC's "Today" in the key 25-to-54-year-old demographic, and Lester Holt has proven an able successor to Brian Williams as anchor of NBC's "Nightly News." This season, ABC's prime time is down 12% in total viewers but is a close second to NBC in adults 18 to 49 if sports isn't included, according to Nielsen.

In addition, Fusion, the news/lifestyle channel ABC co-owns with Univision that Mr. Sherwood championed has been struggling, and now Disney is looking to exit the venture.

Disney has the luxury of a surging film unit thanks in large part to the latest installment of Star Wars. But the company's TV business still accounts for 44% of its revenue and 60% of profit, so finding ways to grow is a high priority.

Since taking over for Anne Sweeney last February, Mr. Sherwood has begun a rethink of Disney's relationship with Netflix Inc. amid concerns that the streaming powerhouse's popularity cuts into traditional TV viewership. And he has made a push to develop sophisticated data analytics and ad-targeting capabilities for Disney's networks. Mr. Sherwood also has played a key role in Disney's on-again off-again negotiations with Apple Inc., which has been vying to launch an online TV service with a slimmed-down package of channels. Disney is trying to hammer out an agreement to package ABC, Disney Channel, ABC Family and ESPN for the new service, a person familiar with the talks said.

With regard to Netflix, Mr. Sherwood has emerged as a voice of caution. Disney has sold reruns of high-profile shows to Netflix like ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder." But Mr. Sherwood also gave ABC Family the green light to opt out of licensing some shows to the streaming service--particularly those aimed at younger viewers--in favor of in-house digital platforms.

Mr. Sherwood wants Hulu, the streaming service that Disney has a one-third stake in, to be a more aggressive competitor to Netflix. That means focusing on growth overseas where Netflix is expanding rapidly.

On the advertising front, Mr. Sherwood assumed oversight of research and consumer insights and put former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive Cindy Davis in charge of a Seattle-based team focusing on targeting ads to viewers to better compete with Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc.

A Harvard University graduate and Rhodes Scholar, the patrician Mr. Sherwood is known for being hypercompetitive and exacting. He even corrected Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger on a bowling score during a recent company retreat, people at the outing said.

Unlike Ms. Sweeney, who gave her team a fair amount of autonomy, Mr. Sherwood has been much more involved in the day-to-day operations of the Disney/ABC TV Group and ingratiated himself with the Hollywood community.

"He was very inquisitive," Steve Levitan, co-creator of ABC's hit sitcom "Modern Family," said of his first meeting with Mr. Sherwood. "He didn't come in with an attitude of 'I know everything so watch what I can do.' It was, 'I come from a different world so help me learn.'"

Mr. Sherwood's promotion has been an adjustment for some particularly Paul Lee, the head of ABC Entertainment, according to people familiar with the men. When ABC was developing shows for the 2015-16 television season, Mr. Sherwood wondered whether the network relies too heavily on serialized dramas such as "Scandal" and should instead focus more on procedural shows like "NCIS" in which each episode is a self-contained story, according to a senior ABC executive. Such shows are often easier to sell in syndication and in international markets.

Mr. Lee bristled, according to people familiar with the matter, and ultimately ABC stuck with its current programming strategy.

Disney executives have advised Mr. Sherwood that with so much terrain to cover, he should keep focused on bigger issues such as digital platforms, one senior staffer said.

"He's chasing mice while the elephants go stomping by," said a Disney executive of Mr. Sherwood's tendency to micromanage. In recent weeks, he has adopted a more low-key approach, people inside the company said.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2016 17:38 ET (22:38 GMT)

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