Excite names COO, cancels some operations

Excite@Home has named Matt Jones its chief operating officer (COO), a new post for the company.

As COO, Jones will spearhead the company’s revenue-generating operations including its media, consumer broadband, and commercial divisions. In addition, he will oversee company functions such as marketing, corporate communications and customer service.

The creation of the new post was made to help, “focus on operations for the company. We wanted to bring all revenue generating operations and the supporting units for those under one person,” said a spokeswoman for Excite@Home.

Prior to joining Excite@Home, Jones served as president and CEO of Lipstream Networks, a provider of voice services over the Internet.

The announcement of Jones’ appointment was made along with the announcement that two of the company’s executives have stepped down “to pursue other opportunities.”

Byron Smith, executive vice president of Excite network and Mark O’Leary, executive vice president of broadband services will leave the company in July pending completion of certain projects. The responsibilities of these executives will fall to Jones.

In a separate announcement, Excite@Home said that it is closing three of its European media operations in response to weakened Internet advertising markets.

The company’s operations serving France, Germany and Spain are expected to close in July, subject to local regulations.

Excite UK and Excite Italia, however, will continue to operate.

And in a third announcement, the company said it was exploring the possibility of restructuring its commercial relationships with Comcast and Cox Communications. Both companies currently serve as distributors for Excite brand Internet access.

Under the current agreements, on each June 4 and December 4 the companies can give Excite@Home six months notice that they are terminating the exclusivity obligations of their relationships or terminating the relationships altogether.

Excite@Home has extended until June 18 the time for both companies to decide whether to give notice to terminate their mutual exclusivity provisions.

The Excite@Home spokeswoman declined to comment on this development.