Comcast Expected to Name E! Chief

Striving to calm internal strife at E! and improve the entertainment channel’s relations within the Hollywood community, Comcast Corp. is expected to name television veteran Ted Harbert as the new head of E! Networks as early as today, according to sources close to the situation.

Harbert, a television producer and former chairman and president of ABC Entertainment, would replace Mindy Herman. She was ousted as chief executive of E! Networks in late May amid allegations that she abused her power and alienated celebrities.

The sources said Comcast brass chose Harbert because it saw him as able to mend fences in Hollywood, stabilize the workforce and improve the ratings at E!, which have declined slightly since Herman took charge four years ago.

Unlike Herman, a lawyer with shallow roots in Hollywood before becoming the head of E!, Harbert is a television programmer with deep connections within the movie and TV industry. Clean-cut and affable, the 49-year-old executive is known for a more collaborative style than Herman, whom employees have described as confrontational.

Despite his lack of cable TV experience, Harbert may also have jumped to the top of the list in part because of his friendship with Comcast President Steve Burke, whose responsibilities were expanded this spring to include oversight of the cable giant’s programming assets, including E! and its sister Style network.

Neither Burke nor Harbert would comment Wednesday.

The two worked together in the mid-1990s at Walt Disney Co., where Harbert headed ABC Entertainment and Burke ran the broadcaster’s television and radio stations group. They both departed in the late 1990s, chafing under the leadership of Disney chief Michael Eisner.

Harbert had joined ABC after graduating in 1977 from Boston University and worked his way up the ranks to the top job at ABC Entertainment. Along the way, he helped guide such hits as “The Wonder Years” and “NYPD Blue.”

Disney’s purchase of Capital Cities/ABC Inc. in 1996 imposed a more centralized, hands-on management style. The last straw for Harbert came when a No. 2 was hired for the entertainment division without his input.

Harbert, who grew up in the New York suburbs the son of a television producer, has kept a mostly low profile since leaving ABC in 1997.

He spent about two years producing television programs for DreamWorks SKG. Although he developed no hits, his close collaborations with writers earned him a reputation as talent-friendly and landed him a job as president of NBC Studios in 2000. He left that post last year after a management shake-up at NBC Entertainment.

He soon struck a television production deal with News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox Television, although his highest-profile project, “Jessica,” starring MTV celebrity Jessica Simpson, did not make ABC’s prime-time lineup for the fall.

Sources said Harbert would start at E! on July 12, just 10 days before its channels are scheduled to unveil their new programming lineups at the annual gathering in Pasadena of the nation’s television critics.

Harbert would face some serious rebuilding. During Herman’s tenure, the value of E! Networks nearly doubled in part because she slashed costs and dramatically expanded the reach of both E! and Style, moves that entitled her to a stock severance package of $20 million.

Advertisers, however, haven’t flocked to the lowbrow, tabloid fare ushered in by Herman, such as “Celebrities Uncensored” and “The Anna Nicole Show,” an unscripted series centered on the everyday life of the former pinup.

What’s more, E!’s tendency to embarrass stars led to a boycott by several big names, including Will Smith, George Clooney and Halle Berry. As a result, the channel was banished from the red carpet of several movie premieres over the last year.

E!’s yearly average 24-hour ratings have declined since Herman took charge in 2000, although they were up 14% in the first five months of this year over the same period in 2003.

Under her watch, entertainment reporters Steve Kmetko and Jules Asner, who helped create an identity for the channel, left. And Herman failed to renew the contracts of Joan and Melissa Rivers. The mother and daughter duo, who brought in some of the channel’s highest ratings while working the red carpet at awards shows, have signed a contract with Gemstar-TV Guide International’s TV Guide Channel.

Last year, Comcast audited E! Networks after receiving two anonymous letters that complained about Herman’s behavior as CEO. An E! spokeswoman said Herman always acted appropriately during her tenure, though she added that Herman wrote a check for nearly $8,000 to reimburse the company for the cost of a lavish baby shower after learning that employees complained to Comcast.

Other complaints about Herman were perhaps less serious but still unflattering.

At an E! party for the launch of “The Anna Nicole Show” in 2002, Herman got into a fistfight with a female subordinate in the parking lot of a Hollywood burlesque club, witnesses said.