Turner to Keep Officials of MGM; Hints Personal Role

Ted Turner confirmed Tuesday that he plans to retain current management at MGM when his intended purchase of the movie company is completed, but he also hinted strongly that he will become personally involved in film making.

Turner, speaking before the Hollywood Radio & Television Society, said he wants “to make it very clear to the (Hollywood) community that we’re 100% behind Alan Ladd (Jr.) and his management team and David Gerber.”

Ladd, chairman of the current MGM/UA Entertainment Co., and Gerber, president of the studio’s television-broadcast group, were among the industry executives seated on the dais as Turner gave his keynote remarks.

Assurances of a stable management--made before a roomful of network executives and producers at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel--could be interpreted as a deliberate attempt to ensure a smooth flow of production as Turner prepares to become controlling stockholder of MGM. While his offer is pending, Turner is constrained by federal securities laws from stating specific plans for the studio, an uncertainty that could keep independent producers from bringing their film projects to MGM.

But Turner did suggest that he or other officials of his Atlanta-based Turner Broadcasting System might themselves become involved with film production. Noting that WTBS and the Turner-owned Cable News Network have relied on news and sports because they are relatively inexpensive programming, Turner said that “we’re finally in a position to get at least our foot wet” in the area of movies.

Whether he is simply the maverick businessman that his track record suggests or, as he admitted, has “a lot to learn” about running a studio, at least part of Turner’s remarks were at odds with one of his competitors-to-be, 20th Century Fox Chairman Barry Diller.

Turner said that ownership of both a production entity and a program distributor--his satellite-fed WTBS superstation--would enable him to keep shows on the air longer than they might be at one of the big networks. The idea is that big-budget TV shows only earn large profits when they accumulate about 100 episodes and their reruns can be sold in syndication.