Warner Bros. loses videocassette veteran

LOS ANGELES -- The head of Paramount Pictures Corp.'s home entertainment division resigned abruptly and will be replaced by a veteran video executive from Warner Bros.

Eric Doctorow, who spent 20 years at Paramount's video unit, stepped down Thursday. Paramount would only say that Doctorow left to "pursue other interests and to seek new challenges."

He was credited with helping push the direct sale of videocassettes in the late 1980s and was responsible for the launch of "Titanic" on video and DVD.

He'll be replaced by Tom Lesinski, who aggressively marketed DVDs to consumers while he was at Warner Bros.

Doctorow is the third top home video chief to leave a studio in the last month. Patricia Wyatt left 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment to form a film company. Warren Lieberfarb, the "godfather of DVD," left Warner Bros. last month after 20 years.

TNN names SpongeBob promoter as president

NEW YORK -- Albie Hecht, the producer credited with bringing the hit "SpongeBob SquarePants" to TV, was named president of TNN as part of a network overhaul to reposition itself as an entertainment channel for men.

"We are already building from a strong male base, with franchises such as 'Star Trek,' 'CSI,' the James Bond film library, the WWE and our upcoming original adult animation block," Hecht, 49, said Thursday.

TNN plans to add several new adult-oriented animated programs in 2003.

-- from wire reports