Report: Disney Considering News Role For Ben Sherwood

Ben Sherwood

Walt Disney Co. has discussed reorganizing its news operations under the leadership of Ben Sherwood, its most senior television executive and the former head of its news division, according to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.

Sherwood, who currently runs ABC, Freeform and Disney Channel, would become the head of worldwide news and nonfiction content at the company under one scenario that's been discussed, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Disney hasn't made any decisions yet, and the outcome may depend on the success of its bid for U.K broadcaster Sky, which operates a large news division.

Disney is in the final stages of closing a $71 billion deal with 21st Century Fox, which will hand the company a broad swath of assets, including the Fox studio, a stake in the Hulu streaming service, and cable channels such as FX. The company plans to overhaul the leadership of its TV division, placing Fox's Peter Rice in charge and leaving Sherwood with an uncertain future.

Sherwood and Disney have held preliminary talks about a job overseeing news across North America, Europe and India, according to the people familiar with the discussions. The plan could fall through -- and Sherwood may pursue roles outside of the company, one of the people said. His contract runs through mid-2021.

If Sherwood were to take over news, it would return him to the site of his greatest successes at Disney. The Los Angeles native ran ABC News when the network's morning show, "Good Morning America," eclipsed NBC's "Today" in total viewers.

While that helped earned him a promotion to running a portfolio of TV networks, his success in news didn't translate to other areas. The ABC network has been mired in third place and recently lost two of its biggest producers, Shonda Rhimes and Kenya Barris, to Netflix. The Disney Channel and Freeform have both suffered declines in viewers.