Liberty Media Chief Exec Peter Barton Resigns

Peter Barton has resigned as president and chief executive of Liberty Media Corp. to form a new entertainment programming company. Though industry sources were quick to speculate that his departure is part of a continuing management shake-up at troubled Tele-Communications Inc., Liberty’s parent company, Barton insisted the move was “purely personal.”

“If it wasn’t for the changing guard here, I wouldn’t feel right about leaving,” said Barton, adding that he was motivated to make a change by his 15-year anniversary at the cable company and his own 46th birthday.

Robert “Dob” Bennette, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Liberty, will succeed Barton.

Sources close to the company said Barton had become restless in his role as, in effect, a portfolio manager of cable programmers. Liberty, which trades separately from TCI, is one of the only pure plays in cable programming on Wall Street, with ownership stakes worth more than $6 billion in about 90 channels, including Fox Sports, Starz, E! and Discovery. Liberty also held the 20% interest in Turner Broadcasting System Inc. that was recently converted to a 9% holding in Time Warner Inc.

Barton said he has discussed leaving several times over the last year with his boss John Malone, chairman of TCI, and that the timing had little to do with the appointment in late January of an outsider, Leo Hindrey, as president of TCI. Barton continued to report to Malone.

Barton, a Harvard MBA who has been president of Liberty since 1990, would disclose little about his plans. “I’m superstitious about talking about stuff before it’s real,” said Barton, who is known in the industry as an aggressive deal maker and something of a smart-aleck. One friend calls Barton, who was a once a professional freestyle skier and mogul racer, “an accidental executive.”

Barton said that over the years at TCI and Liberty, he had seen programming ideas more suitable in size for an individual rather than a huge company. Sources say he is already working on ventures that could be backed by TCI.

Barton also said he was interested in certain broadcasting ideas that TCI couldn’t pursue because of restrictions on cable ownership of broadcast stations.

Barton has made a tidy fortune over the years from Liberty shares and options, with news reports estimating his worth at more than $70 million.

During Barton’s tenure, Liberty has purchased interests in the Home Shopping Network, Court TV, the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, E! and the Silver King Communications station group now controlled by Barry Diller. It has also built a group of regional sports networks that in 1995 merged with Fox Sports.

Barton said the timing of his departure also is unrelated to Liberty’s planned spinoff from TCI. TCI first spun off the programming unit in 1991 to dispel regulatory concerns about TCI’s control of production and distribution. When regulations eased, TCI bought the unit back in 1994, then spun it off again as a “tracking stock” in 1995.

Barton said the rumored sale of Liberty holdings should not be interpreted as a need by Liberty to raise capital. “If someone wants to buy an asset for way more than it’s worth, why not take the money?” he said.

News Corp. is negotiating to buy Liberty’s 50% share in their Fox Sports joint venture of regional sports channels and its 20% stake in International Family Entertainment, which is controlled by evangelist Pat Robertson.