Comcast's Harbert To Oversee G4, Cut Costs

Representatives from U.S. cable provider Comcast have announced that the company has amplified the role of E! Networks president and CEO Ted Harbert to give him full reign over North American video game TV channel G4, effective immediately. His new duties will be in addition to his role governing the E! and Style channels. Today's announcement unifies these networks with G4 to represent the entirety of the company's West Coast cable networks. In addition, the move also elevates Harbert's role to that of president and CEO of the Comcast Entertainment Group, a newly created position used to represent this trio of networks. For the time being, Harbert will oversee E!'s daily operations while G4 president Neal Tiles will keep his current position. Tiles became the station's president in 2005, when he replaced G4 founder Charles Hirschhorn. It remains unclear as to the fate of other employees who could be impacted by the move. Harbert commented to Broadcast & Cable that the promotion was designed by the company's president of its programming group, Jeff Shell, in an effort to cut G4's costs. According to Harbert, the gaming network currently suffers "the financial burden of being a standalone business." "The main thing is to consolidate business operations," added Harbert. "Our goal, frankly, is to be able to divert resources that are now being spent on the standalone operation on administration functions, to divert those resources to programming."