Columbia TriStar May Be Considering Leadership Change at Telemundo

Sony’s Columbia TriStar television group is talking to longtime Hollywood executive Jim McNamara about a senior management role at its flagging Spanish-language Telemundo Network, raising questions about the fate of the current management team.

Jon Feltheimer, president of Columbia TriStar’s television group, has been talking with McNamara, a former president of Universal Television Enterprises, about an unspecified role with the network, sources said.

Telemundo has seen its share of the national Spanish-language audience fall by a third--to about 8%--since Sony purchased it in August, provoking a recent, and radical, change in its programming strategy.

Last week, the network also lost Enrique Gratas, anchor for one of its top-rated shows, to rival Univision Communications Inc.

Sources close to the talks, who asked that their names not be used, say the discussions have been going on for some time, although McNamara has not been offered a specific job. Telemundo is currently headed by President Peter Tortorici, a former CBS entertainment programming executive.

“It’s highly exaggerated that I am working for Telemundo,” said McNamara, who declined to comment further.

Sony, which co-owns Telemundo with Liberty Media, released a statement saying: “Sony management totally stands behind the new fall schedule and the direction the network is taking.” However, through spokesman Justin Pierce, Sony declined to comment about potential management changes.

It would be highly unusual for the network to make any top-level move now, while advertisers are in the midst of evaluating how much they want to spend on the fall schedule. Joe Zubizarreta, executive vice president of Miami-based Zubi Advertising, a major national ad-buying firm that represents Mobil Oil, Ford and other accounts, said: “I’m completely against Tortorici’s departure at this time. I would lose a lot of confidence in the network.”

McNamara, onetime chief executive of New World Entertainment, currently heads the Westwood-based consulting firm JMM Management, advising film and television companies in the U.S. and Latin America. The son of a civilian Defense Department employee, McNamara was born in the Panama Canal Zone and educated in Panamanian schools. He speaks fluent Spanish and knows the Latin American programming business.