Bay News 9 Loses a General Manager, Gains a Group Vice President

For three years, Eliott Wiser has served as a vice president for Bright House Networks while also running the local 24-hour cable newschannel Bay News 9 as its general manager.

But all that changed Wednesday, following the announcement of Wiser’s promotion to Group Vice President of Local Programming for Bright House Networks. The move makes a full-time job of supervising the company’s 11 on-demand and local newschannels in the Tampa Bay area and Orlando —- emphasizing the notion that Bright House’s local content has expanded beyond its two 24-hour cable newschannels.

“I told the staff this morning, and it was a bit emotional...for a lot of people here, I'm the only GM they've ever had,” said Wiser, who came to St. Petersburg 10 years ago to start Bay News 9 and leaves as the longest-tenured general manager in the market. “There’s so many other products we’re doing, the company wanted me to spend more time on those in an expanding role…It’s an evolution.”

In Tampa Bay, Bright House also offers an all sports channel Catch 47, the Spanish-language Bay News 9 en Espanol, an all-weather channel and an array of on-demand channels. The Orlando area features the 24-hour Central Florida News 13 channel and its own array of weather, Spanish-language and on-demand channels.

Wiser, who will remain in the Tampa Bay area at Catch 47’s Pinellas Park headquarters, hopes to name a successor as Bay News 9’s general manager in the first quarter of 2008, following a nationwide search. Necessary disclaimer here: The St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9 share material and team up on projects through a partnership agreement.