Revolving Door

Jim Ackerman, a one-time “Dateline NBC” and “Today” show producer who’s been developing series at VH1 for the past several years, is returning to NBC as Senior Vice President of primetime alternative programming at CNBC.

This is a new role at CNBC, which appears to want to break out of the traditional long-form business programming which makes up primetime — corporate portraits, fraud and stories of business tycoons — and add what has become a staple of cable and broadcast TV: reality shows. Ackerman will report directly to CNBC president Mark Hoffman.

“Jim will be responsible for CNBC’s strategy, development and production of new formats, including reality for our networks,” writes Hoffman in a note to staff.

While at VH1 Ackerman oversaw development of shows including “Best Week Ever,” “Celebrity Fit Club,” and “Race-o-Rama.”

In his career, Ackerman has developed projects for Buena Vista, Telepictures, Fox News and HBO and was EP of Lifetime’s “The Jane Pratt Show.” In the 1990s, he worked at CBS News as senior broadcast producer of “CBS This Morning.”

Hoffman’s note after the jump…

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Miguel Marquez, late of ABC News, will rejoin CNN as a Los Angeles-based correspondent, TVNewser has learned.

Until November, Marquez was a London-based correspondent for ABC News. He’d joined ABC from CNN in 2005. In his first CNN stint Marquez was an anchor at Headline News based at CNN in Atlanta. Marquez joined CNN in April 2003 from FOX affiliate KSAZ in Phoenix, where he was a reporter. Before that Marquez worked at WNBC in New York. He got his start at CBS News as a national desk assistant for the “CBS Evening News,” “48 Hours” and “60 Minutes.”

ABC News president Ben Sherwood is changing up a couple of correspondent assignments, while bringing on a new reporter: Reena Ninan, late of Fox News.

Ninan is joining the Washington, DC bureau after covering the Middle East for FNC. Ninan spent much of the past year reporting on  the Arab Spring from Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Gaza and the West Bank.

Also announced, Jim Avila, who has been based in New York, is relocating to Washington, D.C. where he will be Senior National Correspondent overseeing a new investigative unit focused on food, drug, airline and environmental safety issues. He’ll continue to contribute to “20/20” specializing in law and justice. Avila was the lead reporter on the death of Michael Jackson and the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. And Lisa Stark, who has been covering federal policy, including transportation and the FDA, will now cover lifestyle stories for ABC News.

Wall Street Journal reporter Kelly Evans is jumping to CNBC. Kelly, who joins CNBC Feb. 27, will be based in London, initially.

Evans hosts the daily “News Hub” program on WSJ.com and writes The Journal‘s “Ahead of the Tape” column. She has been a frequent guest on WSJ’s corporate sibling Fox Business Network as well as on CNBC. Kelly joined The Journal in 2007 covering real estate and economics.

The news was first speculated by the website JaneDough.

A couple new additions at ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.” Claire Brinberg joins as senior producer. Brinberg, who most recently worked with Christiane Amanpour on “This Week,” joined ABC from CNN in 2010 where she worked with Anderson Cooper, Judy Woodruff and Campbell Brown. Also, Mary Harris has been named senior producer overseeing special projects and series. Harris, who previously worked on “World News” and “Good Morning America” recently worked at WNYC radio in New York where she launched “The Takeaway.”

Former CNN executive Nancy Lane is joining CBS News. Lane has been tapped as executive producer of CBSNews.com, tasked with overseeing all editorial for the news division’s digital outlets.

“Nancy’s long experience managing a global news organization will help us deliver original reporting from CBS News across all digital media,” said CBS News president David Rhodes in a statement. “Early in our discussions about this role, [CBS News chairman] Jeff Fager and I became convinced that Nancy shared our editorial values and could be a tremendous asset in this growing area.”

Lane was most recently senior VP of editorial for CNN/U.S., a role she left in August, 2010. She started her career at CNN in 1981 as an intern, working her way up through the ranks.

More information, after the jump.
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“Anderson” EP and former “Good Morning America” EP Jim Murphy is leaving the syndicated program. With Murphy’s departure, Terence Noonan will oversee day-to-day operations at the program.

“I’m grateful for Jim’s help and his hard work launching the show,” host Anderson Cooper wrote in a memo to the staff. “He’s a good friend and will always be a friend of our show. We have a terrific team in place led by our executive producer, Terence Noonan, and I’m really excited about the momentum we’ve built and the future of the show.”

Thomas Tillman, a 22-year CBS News veteran, has been named Deputy Washington Bureau Chief. Tillman has been filling in for Jim McGlinchy is now Senior Broadcast Producer for the “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.”

Tillman began with CBS in 1989 working as an AP for Newspath. He moved to Politics in 1992 and to the Washington Bureau. In 1998 he would join the special events unit, becoming coordinating producer in 2009.

“This is a great time to be working at CBS News and this bureau is a critical part of furthering the impressive progress we are seeing at the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning and, of course, Face The Nation,” writes bureau chief Chris Isham in a note to staff. “I am confident that Thomas will be instrumental in making sure that our bureau continues to operate at its highest and most productive capacity.”

On “Nighly News” last night, Brian Williams bid farewell to George Lewis, after 42 years with NBC News, most of it reporting from the Los Angeles bureau. Over on the “Nightly News” website, Lewis writes you’ll see him again soon enough: “Since I can’t completely hang up my spurs, I’ll return in six months as a part-timer,” he writes.

Lewis follows in the footsteps of not-so-retired NBC News Middle East correspondent Martin Fletcher.

David Kenny has been named Chairman and CEO of The Weather Channel Companies, which operates The Weather Channel on TV, radio, online as well as WSI, a weather forecasting and solutions provider.

Kenny joins from Akamai, where he was president. “I was attracted to The Weather Channel because weather is fascinating,” he says. “I am excited to join a team of talented meteorologists, management leaders and dedicated employees as we collaborate to grow and expand across our various platforms globally.”

The Weather Channel Companies is owned by a consortium of NBC Universal, and private equity firms Bain Capital, and The Blackstone Group. Kenny succeeds Mike Kelly, who joined the company as President and CEO in 2009. Kelly will serve as a special adviser to Kenny and as an adviser to Bain Capital, which has been in the news recently as it is the firm co-founded by GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Before Akamai, Kenny co-founded and served as managing partner of VivaKi, the media and digital arm of Publicis Groupe, and he is a past Chairman and CEO of Digitas Inc., the advertising agency. He is also on the board of Yahoo Inc..

Release after the jump…

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