• by Wayne Friedman , January 14, 2009

Longtime Turner advertising executive Linda Yaccarino has been promoted to executive vice president and COO of Turner Entertainment ad sales/marketing and acquisitions, adding responsibilities of program deals for the company.

Yaccarino continues to oversee all advertising sales for Turner's big three entertainment networks--TNT, TBS, and truTV--and all their respective ancillary advertising businesses. Previously, she had been executive vice president and general manager of Turner Entertainment ad sales.

One big change here: Now, Jonathan Katz--senior vice president and GM of program planning, acquisitions for Turner and Peachtree TV--will report to Yaccarino as well as Stu Snyder, president and COO for Turner Animation, Young Adults and Kids Media.

Yaccarino continues to report to David Levy, president of Turner broadcasting sales and Turner Sports, and Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks.

Adding in responsibilities of program acquisition, Yaccarino will work closely with Katz, who brought on programs such as "The Office," "My Name Is Earl," "Family Guy," "Cold Case," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Friends," "Seinfeld" and "Without a Trace," as well as Tyler Perry's "House of Payne" and "Meet the Browns." His movie acquisitions include "The Dark Knight."

Yaccarino joined Turner Broadcasting in 1993 working for its syndication ad sales division. She held various positions at Turner, including vice president and sales manager of Turner Entertainment Sales. She also held senior advertising positions at CNBC and Select Media Communications.