It was the usual Wednesday mix of moguls (Jon Tisch), media men (Richard Beckman, Mike Perlis) and television honchos (Henry Schleiff) today at Michael’s. With this Type A crowd, summer vacations are for slackers — at least until August. From the looks of things, there were plenty of deals being done (or at least pitched) between bites.

I was joined today by Eliot Spitzer and Lisa Linden. The last time the three of us had lunch, New York’s former governor was headlining his own show on CNN, In The Arena, which replaced the short-lived Parker Spitzer which he launched with co-host Kathleen Parker in 2010. About a year ago, CNN boss Ken Jautz cancelled In The Arena in a shakeup of the network’s primetime lineup. “I’m very happy with the show we did and the ratings we got, which were good to compared to what they’re getting now,” Eliot told me.  Not surprisingly, he says he prefers and is better suited for Current TV’s politically charged environment. “Current has an ideology. There’s no pretense; we’re open about it. CNN tries very hard to position itself as an non-ideological news network, but there’s no objectivity in network news. It would be better for all of us if we just accepted that.” Therein lies the major issue with his former employer’s rating woes, says Eliot: ”CNN has a serious question of what it is and they’ve got to answer that.”

Having stepped in seemingly hours after Keith Olbermann was booted from Current TV, Eliot took to the airwaves with the aptly titled Viewpoint in Olbermann’s old time slot with no promotional campaign or PR machine to attract viewers (although Olbermann’s own campaign to get his side of the story out gave the fledgling network plenty of attention). But the show does have co-founder Al Gore‘s support (he’s been a guest on Viewpoint) and Eliot says Joel Hyatt is very involved in the “day-to-day” running of the network. “They have been great. I’ve known Al since 1999 and I like him very much. He’s a great guy.” (BTW you can see what Joel had to say about all those supposed dust-ups with Olbermann in this Mediabistro interview.)

Read more

Mia Carbonell has been named senior vice president, corporate communications, for Forbes Media. Carbonell comes to Forbes from HSN, where she served as vice president of corporate communications since late 2009. Prior to that she worked as senior vice president of corporate communications for Rodale, from 2005 to 2008.

At Forbes Carbonell will direct public relations efforts and develop communication strategies that bolster the brand.

“We look forward to having her join our very talented management team as we continue to lead the industry by putting authoritative journalism at the center of a social media experience,” said Mike Perlis, President and CEO of Forbes Media.

Carbonell’s appointment at Forbes is effective immediately.

Forbes today announced the promotions of Meredith Kopit Levien to chief revenue officer, and Mark Howard to the new position of Senior Vice President of Digital Advertising Strategy.

Levien joined Forbes four years ago and was most recently SVP/group publisher.  In her new role, she will be responsible for the entire U.S. and European digital and print sales organization.  As for Howard,  he will head up digital ad strategy, focusing on leading the introduction of the highly innovative advertising products to the marketplace.  Previously he was SVP of Digital Ad Sales.

“Meredith is well-known and well-respected in the marketplace, and her sales and business management skills will propel us to new heights in 2012 and beyond,” said Mike Perlis, Forbes Media president and CEO.  “Mark’s deep experience makes him supremely qualified for his new role.”

Forbes Media encompasses Forbes and Forbes.com, the leading business site on the Web that reaches on average 27 million people monthly.

Read more

Mike Perlis was introduced today as president and CEO of Forbes Media. Company chairman and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes made the announcement.

“With the arrival of Mike Perlis, Forbes has been joined by someone who is a proven leader, with great successes in his impressive career. We are fortunate he will be leading the company as CEO, charged with taking a great brand to greater, expanded success,” Forbes said. ”Mike is a well-liked, known and admired force in our business. His experience, coupled with the range of arenas he has spent time in, are the ideal skills that Forbes demands in the days and years moving forward. He will be joining the company on December 1st.”

Perlis joins Forbes Media from SoftBank Capital, a venture capital firm focused on high growth internet based businesses, where he served as a General Partner.  He focused on content businesses including, Beliefnet, Huffington Post, Associated Content, and Buzzfeed.  Prior to joining Softbank, Perlis served as president and CEO of Ziff- Davis Publishing, president of TVSM and president of the Playboy Publishing Group.

Photo Credit: Walter Smith

YourTango is steadily growing as a destination for online relationship guidance,  and that means expanding its board of directors to include Mike Perlis. Perlis, a partner at SoftBank Capital NY, has had 20 years’ experience managing content and multi-media brands like TVSM and Playboy Publishing Group. He previously served as the president and CEO of Ziff-Davis Publishing until its sale a decade ago.

Perlis also serves on the board of the Newhouse School of Public Communications and is a trustee of Outward Bound.