Word: abc
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...meantime ABC has been pursuing a highly regarded NBC program executive, Jamie McDermott, for a top post, and the tug-of-war over her services has prompted one of the bitterest network feuds of recent years. According to reports in the New York Post and New York magazine, McDermott--who had a role in developing such hit shows as Friends--sought to get out of her NBC contract by charging sexual harassment against the network's top West Coast executive, Don Ohlmeyer. McDermott's charges have been seen by some as a cynical ploy to free her for the ABC...
...rumors and innuendo that have no basis in fact." Said Ohlmeyer: "Michael Ovitz is the Antichrist, and you can quote me on that." Ovitz would not comment. Sources close to McDermott confirm she was upset at Ohlmeyer's behavior (though she never threatened to bring formal charges) and say ABC approached her only after Ovitz learned she was unhappy and seeking to leave...
...McDermott winds up at ABC, she'll find a company in the throes of corporate culture shock--or at least culture adjustment. Signs of Disneyfication have so far been small but symbolic. A new E-mail system on ABC computers is decorated with Mickey and Minnie icons, and Disney's annual report prompted snickers by referring to Capital Cities/ABC employees, in traditional Disneyese, as "new cast members." At a corporate retreat in Phoenix, Arizona, Eisner and Ovitz joined in the wholesome fun as a group of ABC execs was dragged off to a bowling alley...
Behind the scenes, Eisner has been a visible and involved boss, paying visits to Capital Cities/ABC newspapers and radio stations and playing host (along with Ovitz) to a breakfast meeting with 50 top ABC News executives, producers and correspondents in New York City to reassure them that Disney will not interfere in the network's journalism. While Eisner has focused on programming, ABC sources say, Ovitz has concentrated more on dealmaking and strategic matters like international business and new technology...
...ABC executives insist that their authority has not been usurped by the Disney overlords. "They have been very supportive," says Capital Cities/ABC president Robert Iger, who runs the TV, radio and publishing operations from New York. Iger points out that most of the big moves attributed to Disney--including the recently announced plans to launch a 24-hour cable news channel--were in the works before the merger. He acknowledges, however, that the news channel might not have happened without Disney's deep pockets and aggressiveness: "It would have been a tougher sell with [former Capital Cities/ABC chairman] Tom Murphy...