Company Town : Deutchman Departs as Fine Line Features President

Ira Deutchman abruptly left Monday as president of Fine Line Features, the upscale movie division of New Line Cinema, as part of a larger reorganization in which the unit will lose some of its autonomy.

Details were sketchy late Monday, though a company announcement said Deutchman will have a two-year production and development deal with the company.

Under Deutchman, Fine Line has released such critically acclaimed films as “The Player,” “Barcelona” and “Hoop Dreams.” New Line is a unit of Turner Broadcasting System.

Ruth Vitale, New Line’s executive vice president of worldwide acquisitions, will replace Deutchman.

* MCA Records named David Miller director of single sales.

* Walt Disney Television signed a development and production agreement with David Manson, who previously had a production deal with Touchstone Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures through his Sarabande Productions.

* Steve Friedman, “Today Show” former executive producer, will head a new television unit for Savoy Pictures Entertainment aimed at developing news and current-affairs programs for the fledging company.

The unit will develop programming in news, reality-based and entertainment formats for network, syndication and other markets. In addition to producing and releasing theatrical films, Savoy is a partner in SF Broadcasting, a group of local TV stations.

Friedman served two stints at “Today” and has worked as executive producer of “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw.”

* Warner Bros. named James L. Halsey III to the new position of senior vice president and chief information technology officer.

* North American Television Inc. named Sandy McGovern president and chief operating officer.

* Claire Dixsaut has been named director of programming of Paris-based Turner Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turner International.

* John H. Hersker was promoted to vice president of sales administration for the domestic distribution division of Paramount’s motion picture group.

* Catherine Pomponio was named supervising producer of Group W Productions’ talk show “Marilu,” starring Marilu Henner.