Columbia’s TV Unit Chief Gary Lieberthal Resigns

Gary Lieberthal, the high-profile chairman of Columbia Pictures’ television division, said Monday that he is resigning only 15 months after signing a new three-year contract.

Lieberthal, 46, will leave at the end of Columbia’s fiscal year next month. Columbia Pictures TV produces the hit network shows “Who’s The Boss,” “Married with Children” and “Designing Women.”

The Sony unit is one of the biggest players in television. Reruns of “Who’s The Boss” and “Married with Children” have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in sales the past eight years.

But at the same time that Columbia was earning record syndication fees, Lieberthal embarked on one of the biggest spending sprees in television, doling out handsome fees to top writers and producers whose shows, he believed, would sell to the networks.

The strategy has had limited success. None of the big-ticket writers whom Lieberthal signed has brought forth a hit that will generate significant syndication revenue in the future. In fact, some of the deals are quietly expiring and not being renewed.

In addition, last year Lieberthal played the unusual marketing gambit of giving away reruns of “Designing Women” to local stations in exchange for holding back commercial time in the show that the studio will sell itself. That decision could turn out to be a costly one if the reruns do not perform well in the ratings.

Lieberthal said the decision to “retire” was his own.

“I feel I’ve done it all,” he said.

Sony Pictures Entertainment did not announce a successor.