Latest in Ben Sherwood

We are about a week or so away from Disney unveiling the names of top 21st Century Fox executives who would be joining the company following the acquisition of key Fox assets; we hear an announcement of the company’s post-acquisition structure expected may be coming on Oct.1. With 21st Century Fox president Peter Rice…

Roseanne may have been canceled by ABC just over a week ago after its star let loose online with racist tweets, but this week TV Academy members are receiving magazines in the mail that are playing catch-up with the still-smoldering fiasco. “Shortly before this issue was to be mailed, ABC canceled Roseanne," says a…

It’s been 24 hours since Roseanne Barr has tweeted, finally making good on Tuesday’s promise to leave Twitter after apologizing for her TV empire toppling tweet in which she described former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj". Since Tuesday’s tweet, Barr’s Twitter…

Roseanne Barr tweeted this evening that she “begged” Disney-ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood to let her apologize, “not to cancel the show,” and “4 help in making things right.” ‘I begged4 ppls jobs,” Barr said in the latest of a storm of tweets this afternoon and early evening. On the other hand, this…

Disney/ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood sent a memo to staff today, telling them the cancellation of the Roseanne revival “came down to doing what’s right and upholding our values of inclusion, tolerance and civility.” ABC announced one day earlier it was cancelling its hit comedy series after star Roseanne…

During this year’s USC’s Institute on Entertainment Law and Business, Disney/ABC TV President Ben Sherwood spoke with entertainment lawyer Bruce Ramer of Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown about a variety of topics including the future of TV, the departure of Shonda Rhimes from ABC, and, of course, the recent Harvey Weinstein…

Disney is crowing today about its progress in persuading ABC’s broadcast affiliates to let the entertainment giant negotiate deals with digital distribution services on their behalf. In conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual confab taking place in Las Vegas, Disney|ABC Television Group says…

Disney just unveiled plans to revamp its ad sales operation, combining all broadcast, cable network, and digital teams — except for ESPN’s — into a new organization led by Rita Ferro, President of Sales for Disney-ABC. The change, ahead of the upfront sales season, will create “a one-stop shop for our advertising…

For the past year, ABC has been Bruce Rosenblum’s partner on the Primetime Emmy Awards. Heading into the awards show on Sunday, it also is his employer. Disney today announced the appointment of the veteran executive as president of Business Operations for the Disney-ABC Television Group. This is a somewhat surprising…

If people had questions what new ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey’s programming style will be, they got an answer today. Dungey, working with Disney-ABC TV Group president Ben Sherwood, already differentiated herself from her predecessor, Paul Lee, by handing the network’s strongest series early renewals…

Disney ABC Television Group says it will offer “pre-negotiated agreements” to its affiliates to help them cut distribution deals with streaming services. The arrangements include terms for stations’ linear feeds as well as VOD. The initiative, called Clearinghouse, will begin with two agreements involving ABC-owned…

The Hollywood community is still absorbing the Wednesday news out of ABC that Entertainment Group president Paul Lee abruptly resigned, and the network’s head of drama Channing Dungey was named president of entertainment. The executive shakeup, orchestrated by Disney-ABC TV Group president Ben Sherwood, made history…