PEOPLE : Weiswasser Gets a Top Post at ABC Network

Stephen A. Weiswasser, senior vice president and general counsel for Capital Cities/ABC Inc., has been named executive vice president of the ABC Television Network Group, one of the most senior positions at the network. He will report to John B. Sias, president of the ABC TV Network Group.

The appointment thrusts Weiswasser, 50, into an operating post from the senior staff job he has held since 1986 and gives him a clear shot at running the Network Group when Sias retires next year. Network Group oversees the company’s high-profile entertainment, news and sports divisions and last year accounted for 49% of Cap Cities/ABC’s combined revenue.

As Cap Cities’ top in-house lawyer, Weiswasser has spearheaded the network’s campaign to overturn the financial interest and syndication rules and was the lead negotiator for the networks in private talks with Hollywood studios earlier this year.

Sias said Weiswasser will “work in all areas of the Network Group,” particularly on policy and operations, and eventually have some of the group’s eight units reporting to him. He will continue to oversee the area for which he is currently responsible until a new general counsel is named.

The executive vice presidents at the Network Group are generally viewed as being groomed for bigger jobs. Other people who have held the post include Robert Iger, now president of ABC Entertainment in Hollywood, and Roger Werner, former president of all-sports cable network ESPN.