Cap Cities’ Iger Faces Whole New World : TV: Disney deal has altered his carefully charted course, but he says he welcomes the change.

When Robert A. Iger was appointed last September as president of Capital Cities/ABC Inc., the lingering uncertainty about who would lead the company into the future seemed resolved.

Iger was the hand-picked successor of the company’s legendary founder, Thomas S. Murphy.

Iger had earned his stripes, having started as a 23-year-old stage manager on “All My Children.” At age 44, he has already held top spots in sports, in business affairs, as the chief prime-time programmer in Hollywood and as head of the television network. He studied at Tom Murphy’s knee.

But the announcement Monday that Walt Disney Co. would acquire Capital Cities for $19 billion has changed the carefully orchestrated course of Iger’s 21-year career.

As one investment banker put it Friday, “He’s trading one master for another--and one that may not be as benevolent.”

Iger seems to welcome the prospect of working for Disney Chairman Michael Eisner. He has just signed a long-term contract to continue as president of Cap Cities after his 70-year-old mentor retires when the Disney deal closes sometime next year. He says his possibilities have broadened.

“I signed a new contract, eager to be involved, not only because of the historical quality of this deal, but to work for a company of this size and scope,” said Iger, whose highly commented-upon good looks could make him a network news anchor. “I welcome this great positive step in my career. I have no trepidation. There are always unknowns in these situations, but all of them are ones I’m curious about.”

One of the biggest unknowns is how Disney’s ruthless culture will mesh with Cap Cities’ collegial atmosphere. While Wall Street has declared the marriage a perfect match of assets, many in Hollywood wonder whether the network’s culture can survive. Some of Disney’s employees privately call the company’s Burbank headquarters “Duckow,” a reference to the Nazi concentration camp.

Iger dismisses the question. “Companies of this size are multicultural and they should be,” he said.

Said one Hollywood executive: “He faces a group of people at Disney who are sharks and have Eisner’s ear. But he is obviously politically astute. He made it up the ladder at ABC and weathered the storm of the management changes in New York.”

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Iger thinks so too. “I have been here 20 years and am still carrying my shield rather than being carried out on it.”

In fact, people who know him say Iger might even temper Disney’s hard edge. “In terms of the toughness of Disney’s style, Bob has always managed to deflect it and maybe even helped soften it,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, who dealt with Iger when he was the head of Disney’s studio.

“He has a very gentle touch,” said Katzenberg, whose DreamWorks SKG studio has a production venture with ABC. “I’ve watched people misunderstand that soft style and the comfort he creates for people around him, wondering where the killer edge and the toughness are. But what makes Bob so powerful as a person is that he has all that toughness and manages to mask it.”

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Sounds something like Tom Murphy, whose care for employees and Midwestern style (as in big cowboy belt buckles) belie what most people in town agree is a razor-sharp business mind.

Iger’s detractors say he has more style than substance. They believe that Murphy, and more to the point Capital Cities’ biggest shareholder, Warren Buffett, worried about leaving the company in his charge. Some analysts suggest that the sale to Disney was a tidy way of solving the succession question.

Industry executives say Iger kept the network in the black during the recession of the early 1990s and guided it to first place in this year’s ratings. When he was head of prime time for three years, until 1992, he took chances with offbeat shows like David Lynch’s cultish “Twin Peaks,” and Steven Bochco’s musical series, “Cop Rock,” which bombed.

Said one executive: “You do a Cop Rock to establish a relationship with Bochco so you can get an ‘NYPD Blue.’ And ‘Twin Peaks’ did well in foreign sales.”

Iger, who had never read a script before taking the job as top programmer, said: “We are doomed to wallow in mediocrity and blandness and to watch the demise of the industry if we are not willing to take risks. You have to send a message that risk taking will be rewarded. But if you take risks, the show fails and you still keep your job, that sends a great message.”

The decisive Iger took another risk on production joint ventures he set up to allow the network to profit on programming once rules preventing such practices expire.

Iger goes to the gym at 5 a.m., reads or sails to relax, avoids parties and has a passion for cooking. He has two teen-age daughters and will remarry before year’s end. His bride is Willow Bay, a former Estee Lauder model who now co-hosts Sunday’s “Good Morning America” on ABC.