The Person, Or People, To Replace HBO's Albrecht

Hollywood has really taken to the team mentality. Most of the film studios-Fox, Sony, Universal--are successfully run by dual top bosses, and NBC recently followed that paradigm by hiring Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff. And now, HBO might be contemplating a pair of toppers to replace former chairman/CEO Chris Albrecht and run the cable company.

It still could be weeks before Time Warner makes any announcement, but one scenario could be splitting Albrecht's position in two, with one executive overseeing the business operations and the other in charge of the company's four programming divisions, Variety reports, which would mirror how HBO was run back when Jeff Bewkes was in charge of the channel and Albrecht handled the programming.

HBO has had a strong tradition of cultivating talent and hiring internally and their shortlist currently includes exec vp and strategy guru Richard Plepler; chief operating officer Bill Nelson, who currently has the title of interim CEO; sales and marketing prexy Eric Kessler; and exec VP of business affairs and general counsel Hal Akselrad. The leading candidate to run the four programming divisions is HBO Films chief Colin Callender. Carolyn Strauss, who heads up original series for HBO Entertainment, is considered a more remote choice.

While outsiders are still being interviewed, former NBC head Kevin Reilly isn't thought to be in the running and former Viacom boss Tom Freston is a long shot. Observers say the decision could come as early as next week, but mid-June seems more likely.

So why hire two heads instead of just one? The answer seems obvious. With two, a company gets execs with more specialized skills sets and twice as much experience. It also allows for a good cop/bad cop dynamic when the situation calls for it and a second set of eyes and ears when making a big decision. That is, as long as the team decides to play nicely with each other.