Thursday, September 13, 2018

William Burton Named New Head of ABC Daytime

William Burton has been named SVP and Head Of Daytime, Sports and Syndicated Development/Production for ABC Entertainment, effective immediately.

Burton, general manager and president of KGO, the ABC-owned TV station in the Bay Area, had been overseeing the business operations of ABC Daytime as SVP Daytime following the departure earlier this year of ABC Daytime head Rebecca Campbell, who was named President of Europe, Middle East & Africa for The Walt Disney Co.

Those duties have now been formalized in the new role, which includes expanded responsibilities. Burton, who will be reporting to Channing Dungey, president, ABC Entertainment, will oversee the creation and production of all syndicated programming across ABC platforms. This includes a new daytime talk show with Tamron Hall that is currently in development for fall 2019. In addition, Burton will work on maximizing all sports content on ABC, collaborating with departments and divisions within Disney|ABC, ESPN, and Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International.

Burton has been shepherding business operations of ABC Daytime including drama General Hospital, which marked its 55th anniversary earlier this year, currently the only ABC Daytime program following the recent cancellation of The Chew to make room for another hour of Good Morning America. The creative aspects of GH are being handled by ABC head of current Vicki Dummer.

“Bill has a great track record within the ABC family. I’m excited to see him create new opportunities across divisions to further leverage our syndicated and sports content to deepen our engagement with viewers,” said Dungey.

Most recently, Burton served as president and general manager at KGO-TV in the Bay Area since 2011. He previously served as EVP, Digital Media, for the ABC Owned Television Stations Group, from 2006 to 2011.

Earlier in his career, he was VP, Programming, Advertising and Promotion, and director of Creative Services at ABC Owned KABC-TV in Los Angeles, from 1994 to 2006. Burton also served as director of Creative Services at then-Capital Cities/ABC’s WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, where he began as a promotion writer/producer.

No comments:

Post a Comment