• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 14, 2006

As MyNetworkTV conducts its first upfront, the network has named a dedicated head of ad sales. Dave Barrington, a veteran of Twentieth Television--which had been handling MNTV sales--takes the role of senior vice president and general sales manager.

Merrill Lynch forecasts that MNTV will bring in $50 million in the upfront. An MNTV representative said the network has written business and continues its negotiations with agencies, but offered no specifics.

Also, Twentieth has tapped Starcom's Elizabeth Herbst-Brady as senior vice president, advertising sales--Barrington's previous role--where she will oversee the syndicator's first-run and off-net sales. Herbst-Brady, who previously worked at Twentieth in the mid-1990s, had served as Starcom's senior vice president/director of broadcast investment. Herbst-Brady's departure from Starcom had been predicted since late April, when the agency said she wouldn't head up its upfront negotiations, a duty reassumed by CEO John Muszynski. She joins Twentieth on Sept. 5.

Although Barrington will head sales at MNTV--which launches in September with two hours of telenovela programming six nights a week--executives within Twentieth are expected to continue assisting him with sales. A Twentieth representative declined comment on whether any future hires for MNTV sales would be made.

MNTV's upfront inventory is limited to 10 minutes a night, due to the favorable amount given to local stations as an incentive for them to become affiliates. The network has agreements covering 139 markets and 82 percent of the country.

Both Barrington and Herbst-Brady will report to Bob Cesa, executive vice president, advertising sales at Twentieth--who oversees sales at MNTV, Twentieth, and DirecTV; all three are part of News Corp.

Barrington had been Twentieth's senior vice president for advertising sales since 2003, and has been with the syndicator since 1994. Herbst-Brady joined Starcom in 2004 from Universal Television, where she was executive vice president of advertising sales. She worked with Cesa and Barrington from 1993 to 1996 at Twentieth, when she headed the company's Chicago office.