HBO Gets New Operating Chief

Jeff Bewkes has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Home Box Office Inc., replacing E. Thayer Bigelow Jr., who has been appointed to the newly created position of president and chief executive of Time Warner Cable Programming Inc.

Bewkes, 39, had been executive vice president and chief financial officer of the New York-based pay TV channel. He will report to HBO Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Fuchs.

Bigelow, 48, will oversee Time Warner’s 20% stake in Turner Broadcasting System Inc., as well as Time Warner New York City Cable Group’s planned 24-hour news channel, the 50-channel pay-per-view service in Queens, N.Y., and WGRC, an experimental local programming channel on a Rochester, N.Y., cable system.