UPN makes Dean's list
After a four-month search and more than a month of negotiations, Valentine, a 10-year veteran of Disney, officially was anointed as Lucie Salhany's successor at a press conference Tuesday attended by top execs from UPN partners Paramount and Chris-Craft.
Valentine and Viacom Entertainment Group chairman Jonathan Dolgen joked about the extended negotiations, which involved Disney releasing Valentine from a contract that still had several years before it was to expire.
"Actually, I was at Disney only for one year, and I've been negotiating with UPN for the past nine," Valentine quipped. Dolgen later observed that the lawyers involved "had to exhaust themselves like June bugs."
No comments
While no one would comment on any concessions given to Disney for releasing Valentine, one source said UPN will be paying Disney $1 million. Valentine said no programming commitments were given or exchanged.
"I'd love to have Disney as a supplier, but they've got this other distribution system they'd like to try to feed," he said.
At UPN, Valentine is fulfilling what sources said is a longtime desire to run a broadcast network. He had expressed interest in the top post at ABC Entertainment before Stu Bloomberg was installed as chairman there, according to people who have worked with him.
In Hollywood circles, Valentine is considered a sharp and straightforward exec, which has earned him respect from some quarters, but has created some detractors. With a bit of facetiousness Tuesday, Valentine said he regretted "any bad word I ever said about any show," and "I wish I'd had any of those shows on the schedule."
Valentine declined to lay out his vision for the netlet or any potential changes, but it's likely that programming will be his immediate focus. As president of Walt Disney TV and Walt Disney TV Animation, programming and branding are clearly Valentine's main areas of strength.
He praised UPN series "Star Trek: Voyager," "Good News" and "Clueless," but said, "We probably need to broaden our audience a little bit (and) create a clear identity of who we are."
UPN for the past couple of seasons has targeted black, urban audiences with ethnic sitcoms and young men with action dramas. Its rival startup, the WB, also has targeted black audiences with some of its sitcoms, although the network this season is widening its base a bit. So long as the two split the same core audience, neither is likely to generate huge ratings.
Programming aside, Valentine will have a bit of a learning curve in his other areas of responsibility, including distribution, affiliate relations, advertising, sales and research. Valentine started out in journalism, and he has spent the rest of his career in Hollywood, working first as a director of current comedy programming at NBC Entertainment before joining Disney in 1988 as a director of TV development.
At Disney, Valentine rose through the ranks until he reached what was arguably the top TV post at the studio, in charge of developing and producing TV series, specials and telefilms from Touchstone TV, Walt Disney TV and Walt Disney TV Animation for network, cable, syndication and pay TV distribution. During his tenure, he oversaw the creation of "Home Improvement," "Ellen" and "Boy Meets World," among other series.
While Valentine has some areas of the business to learn, departing CEO Salhany, who now is joining the UPN operating committee that Valentine reports to, said she would "be there for Dean to support him and back him up." But "clearly," she added, "Dean is going to run UPN."
Particularly rancorous
Valentine weighed in on the state of UPN's relations with its rival the WB, which has been particularly rancorous as the two duked it out for stations. He said he's known the WB's principal executives for a long time, and said, "I wish them all the best, short of our best. This kind of sniping through the press on both of our sides is something that is going to stop."
UPN announced at the Tuesday press conference that it will launch a movie night in April, and it has signed two new primary affiliates, WASV Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, S.C.; and WJNW Madison, Wis., reaching a combined 1% of the country.
