Philip I. Kent
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Turner Broadcasting System
Philip I. Kent is chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Phil Kent is responsible for the portfolio of domestic and international networks and businesses. This includes news, entertainment and animation, young adult & kids media divisions, including CNN/U.S., HLN, CNN International, CNN.com, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, truTV, Peachtree TV, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim. Kent also has corporate oversight of all advertising and distribution, all corporate administrative functions, Turner Sports and Turner Studios.
He was named to his current role in February 2003. From August 2000 to August 2001, Kent served as president and chief operating officer of CNN News Group, where he oversaw a strategic reorganization of the news division, a radical redesign of then-Headline News and a number of high-profile hires.
Kent's career at TBS, Inc. also includes broad international experience as president of Turner Broadcasting System International, the division charged with overseeing Turner's wide-ranging business activity outside the United States. Kent led a regionalization strategy that introduced local-language versions of CNN and the Turner entertainment networks around the globe, further strengthening the company's position in critical international markets.
Earlier, Kent was president of Turner Home Entertainment, the former TBS, Inc. division comprised of the company's home video, new media, licensing & merchandising, feature distribution and book publishing operations. Kent joined Turner in March 1993, following six years with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) as a packaging agent in that company's television department. In 1981, he helped launch Blair Entertainment, the television syndication division of John Blair & Co., where he began his career.
Kent earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics at Lehigh University. He serves on the board of directors of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association; on the board of trustees of Atlanta's Woodruff Arts Center; and on the Dean's executive board of UCLA's School of Theatre, Film & Television. In 2007 he was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.