__twocolumncontent.jpg)
It looks like what Anne Sweeney really wants to do is direct.
Sweeney, arguably the most powerful woman in television, stunned Hollywood on Tuesday by announcing that she would be stepping down from her job as co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group in January 2015 to become a television director.
“The past 18 years at Disney have been the highlight of my executive career. I’ve been a part of an amazing evolution in our business and our industry, and have achieved far more than I ever thought possible,” Sweeney said in a statement released Tuesday. “But as wonderful as the experience has been, there has always been a nagging voice in the back of my head pushing me to step out of the comfort zone of the executive ranks and more directly into the creative arena that enticed me to TV in the first place. I finally listened to that voice and thought, ‘if not now, when?’”
Sweeney arrived at Disney in 1996, rising through the television ranks from leading the Disney Channel to running all of the company’s TV properties, minus ESPN. That includes 107 global Disney Channels, cabler A+E Networks, the ABC broadcast network, ABC Studios, ABC Family, and Disney’s share of streamer Hulu.
“Since joining Disney, Anne has been a very successful executive in our senior ranks,” said Bob Iger, Chairman of The Walt Disney Company, in his own statement. “Over the years, she grew our Disney Channel business into a global powerhouse and the main brand driver of our Company around the world; built ABC Family into a top cable network here in the U.S.; made ABC a strong, successful content creation engine; and has been a great partner in leading our industry into the digital age.”
Variety‘s Cynthia Littleton reported that there is no obvious successor to Sweeney as the TV group czar (or czarina), while neither Iger nor Sweeney would take the bait when The Hollywood Reporter‘s Janice Min asked if it would be ABC News’ Ben Sherwood or A+E Network’s Nancy Dubuc.
News of Sweeney’s exit was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Read More: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Deadline, The Wrap, LA Times
Brief Take: With nowhere left to rise in the Disney universe, Sweeney is exiting at the top of her game, avoiding some potentially less-than-flattering press if she had left after another year of middling ratings from flagship broadcast ABC network.
Tags: