ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)–Despite its long and storied history here, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival sponsored by HBO has inevitably lived from year-to-year waiting for the annual green light from HBO chairman and chief executive officer Chris Albrecht in order to live to see another year.

Now the future of the CEO and the storied HBO Comedy Fest in Aspen are in jeopardy long-term after Albrecht was forced to resign pending assualt charges against women that go back to 1991. Though the fest is all but certain to return in 2008, the fate of the festival is likely to be put in the hands of Jeff Bewkes, the man expected to assume command of the pay channel and its myriad operations.

Albrecht was arrested in the MGM Grand parking lot at 3 AM Sunday on charges of assaulting his girlfriend, and he was booked at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. In announcing a leave of absence, Albrecht blamed the incident on a lapse back into drinking two years ago after 13 years of sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.

“My colleagues and friends: I am deeply sorry for what occured [sic] in Las Vegas this weekend and for any embarrasment [sic] it caused my family, the company I love, and myself,” Albrecht wrote in a memo to colleagues at HBO. “While I am not at liberty to discuss the incident as the district attorney and my lawyer are still determining the facts, it is my hope to do so in the near future. This weekend was a wake up call to me of a weakness I thought I had overcome long ago. I had been a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous for thirteen years. Two years ago, I decided that I could handle drinking again. Clearly, I was wrong. Given that truth, I have committed myself to sobriety. I intend to take a temporary leave of absence from HBO effective today, in order to go back to working with AA. Leading this company is a great privilege and I pray that I can continue to do so in a manner that brings honor and pride to this remarkable organization and its remarkable people. Thank you for your understanding during these difficult hours, I will not let you down again. Chris”

Albrecht later resigned his posts at HBO. In an preparted statement, HBO parent Time Warner Inc. said: “Time Warner Inc. today announced that the Company and Chris Albrecht have agreed that he will no longer serve as chairman and CEO of Home Box Office, effective immediately.”

“With great regret,” Albrecht said in the statement, “at the request of Time Warner, I have agreed to step down as chairman and CEO of Home Box Office. I take this step for the benefit of my Home Box Office colleagues, recognizing that I cannot allow my personal circumstances to distract them from the business. I’m very proud of what we have achieved together at Home Box Office, and I wish everybody there many more successes in the future.”

“Jeff Bewkes and I believe that this is the right decision for the Company,” said Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard D. Parsons. “Jeff We thank Chris for all of his contributions to Home Box Office over the years.”

Albrecht had been a stalwart supporter of the HBO Comedy Fest almost from the start.  HBO ‘s expansion into a second comedy festival in Las Vegas for more celebrated comedians had caused concern about the future of the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, but HBO executives said the local fest would remain in place as a vehicle to nurture and discover new comedians.

One example of the festival’s importance: Comedy Fest executive producer Stu Smiley saw Ray Romano do standup on the stage of the Wheeler Opera House, and that performance catapulted the comic into the wildly successful situation comed, “Everybody Loves Raymond.”