Christina Norman Out at MTV
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/11/2008
MTV president Christina Norman is leaving her post at the end of February after 17 years with the company.
In a memo last week, MTV Networks Music and Logo Group President Van Toffler said that for now he will fill her role overseeing day-to-day operations at MTV, MTV2, mtvU and other brands.
While an MTV spokesperson characterized Norman's leaving as "amicable," sources familiar with the senior-level management structure at the company have said for many months that Norman has not been happy there, stemming in part from a sometimes unclear management chain of command.
Norman, Toffler and MTVN Music Group Programming President Brian Graden, who also oversees Logo, were longtime colleagues, and were all assigned senior responsibilities at the company. Toffler will remain president of the MTVN brands, as well as the company's film division and Logo.
Sources within the company said at the end of last week that Norman was eyeing the top slot at OWN, the new network Discovery plans with Oprah Winfrey.
Generally well-liked, Norman was sometimes frustrated after returning to MTV as president in 2005. Having headed marketing at the network during her first stint there, she left in 2002 to lead VH1 and was subsequently tapped to come back to a then-struggling MTV. The network improved. After a realignment of programming last year, the network was up 2% in primetime.
