OpenTV announced late yesterday that Alan Guggenheim, 57, stepped down as president and CEO of the company for personal reasons.

Ben Bennett was named as the acting CEO and appointed to the newly-created position of chief operating officer. Bennett was formerly senior vice president, customer operations for OpenTV. The board also named Mauro Saladini as a new director of OpenTV.

“Ben is a highly regarded and experienced OpenTV executive who has a clear view of the company’s potential as well as outstanding relationships both within OpenTV and externally with customers and partners around the world,” said Andre Kudelski, executive chairman of OpenTV, in a prepared statement. “We look forward to Ben’s contributions as he steps into this expanded role, and we also are delighted to welcome Mauro’s keen insights as a member of our board.”

Bennett, with OpenTV since March 2000, has served as managing director for OpenTV’s European Operations, overseeing operations and relationships with European network operators, broadcasters, and set-top box and conditional access manufacturers.

Bennett also served as senior vice president and general manager of OpenTV’s Worldwide Professional Services, Consulting and Support group, managing the company’s product deployment and integration teams in the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific. He also held senior management positions at Logica and British Telecom.

In 2006, Liberty Media Group sold OpenTV to Kudelski Group SA. San Francisco-based OpenTV said its software has been integrated in more than 92 million digital set-top boxes and digital televisions around the world.