• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 12, 2008

In the latest sign that Discovery Communications' anticipated IPO is imminent, the company said Wednesday that it is replacing its CFO. Brad Singer takes over the post, joining from publicly traded American Tower, a company that runs thousands of towers for broadcast and wireless communications.

Singer will serve under Discovery CEO David Zaslav as senior executive vice president and CFO when he joins July 15.

It is likely that the IPO would come some time after, since Singer may need time to get up to speed.

In May, in another pre-IPO move, Discovery tapped Craig Felenstein to head investor relations. He joined from News Corp. and will report to Singer.

Singer takes over for Roger Millay, who is leaving the company after two years. Zaslav cited Singer's "public company experience" as an asset, and implied that his international experience would be a help. Singer had been CFO at American Tower since 2001--a company that has some of its 23,000 towers in Mexico and Brazil.

Even in a bumpy economy, the company was trading Wednesday at some $10 above its 52-week-low share price.

Earlier this month, readying for the public offering, the Discovery Holding Company and Advance/Newhouse said they have a final agreement to combine their stakes in Discovery.