Magazine publishing veteran John Skipper, who launched ESPN The Magazine in 1998 and later took over ESPN.com and then ESPN’s entire sales division, will assume all programming and production responsibilities for ESPN’s multiple television networks and properties.
ESPN announced a reorganization last week, days after former executive vice president of programming and production Mark Shapiro left the company.
Skipper was named executive vice president of content, one of six business areas identified under the new structure, each with a top executive reporting to ESPN president and CEO George Bodenheimer. The content group will include programming and production, as well as ESPN Enterprises, which houses the new wireless division.
Sean Bratches, meanwhile, will have responsibility for virtually all of ESPN’s revenue as executive vice president of sales and marketing. He’ll continue to oversee all of ESPN and the Walt Disney Co.’s affiliates sales while also taking Skipper’s place in charge of the company’s advertising sales. Marketing will fall under Bratches, as well, with ESPN planning to hire a new person to head those efforts in the next few weeks.
The reorganization means no outsider will join ESPN at the very top executive level, and the number reporting directly to Bodenheimer will remain the same.
Technology will be headed by company veteran Chuck Pagano, who was promoted to executive vice president. An original ESPN employee, Pagano will now report directly to Bodenheimer, his former roommate when they were in their early 20s and starting out at ESPN.
The other business areas are international, finance and administration, headed by Russell Wolff, Christine Driessen and Ed Durso, respectively. All will keep their existing titles and continue reporting to Bodenheimer.
“If you had the luxury of designing the company knowing what it is and what we hope it will become … you would organize all our content production into one group,” Bodenheimer said. “I wanted accountability in one area for all our company in terms of content.”
Previously, the type of medium served was more of the dividing line, with television falling under Shapiro and print and online media (plus all sales) under Skipper. Now, the content piece and the revenue piece will be split from top to bottom within the company, cutting across all platforms.
On the content side, the reorganization saw former senior vice president and managing editor Norby Williamson put in charge of all studio and remote production, and promoted to executive vice president. He’ll be one of eight people working directly under Skipper, including executive editor John Walsh and two programming senior vice presidents, John Wildhack and David Berson.
Though Skipper may lack traditional programming and production experience, Bodenheimer called him a “content guy.”
“Skipper is very creative, very culturally aware, extremely well read,” he said. “I think his expertise in launching ESPN The Magazine and then overseeing ESPN.com make him well suited to blow that up and oversee our efforts for television and radio.”
His counterpart Bratches will have four direct reports initially, including Ed Erhardt, president of ESPN ABC Sports customer marketing and sales. Also reporting to Bratches will be Ben Pyne, who was promoted to president, Disney and ESPN networks affiliate sales and marketing, a job similar to the one Bratches held before.
Bratches negotiated ESPN’s historic new affiliate agreements with most of the major cable operators, lowering the annual rate increases but ensuring long-term growth.
“Sean has been running an area that has gotten more complex over the years,” said Bodenheimer, who headed ESPN’s affiliate sales before being named president. “He works hard with our customers to demonstrate the value of what we are producing. He operates in a tough environment there and does it in a first-class manner. ”
