Official: Liguori Named Tribune CEO

Karsh elected as chairman of the board

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/17/2013 7:03:19 PM

As expected, former Discovery COO Peter Liguori has been named CEO of Tribune, the company announced Thursday.

Bruce Karsh was also elected as chairman of the board; both appointments are effective immediately. Former CEO Eddy Hartenstein will continue to serve as publisher of the Los Angeles Times and CEO of the Los Angeles Times Media Group, and will act as special advisor to the office of the CEO.

"Peter is the ideal choice to be Tribune's next Chief Executive Officer," said Karsh.  "He has the talent and experience to lead the company forward, and has a track record of success.  The Board has every confidence in him."

Liguori left Discovery in 2011. He was overseeing The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) until Winfrey assumed full-time hands-on responsibility for the cable channel. Before Discovery, Liguori was at News Corp. where he was head of entertainment for Fox Broadcasting and ran FX. More recently, he's been consulting and serving on boards.

"Tribune is a great company with an incredible collection of media assets, iconic brands in major markets across the country, tremendous journalism, and very talented people," said Liguori.  "Collectively, the company's digital operations, broadcast outlets and newspapers are some of the best in the country.  In many ways, Tribune is like a 165-year old start-up-there is a lot to build upon."   

Tribune owns 23 TV stations and WGN America in addition to papers including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.