Multichannel News - March 23, 2020

COVID-19 UPDATE MEDIA INDUSTRY ADJUSTS TO NEW NORMAL • NEWS NETS CHALLENGED BY STORY OF A LIFETIME M U LT I C H A N N E L . C O M

WONDER WOMEN 2020

LADIES WHO LAUNCH We salute the best and brightest women working in television today VO L U M E 41 • N U M B E R 6 • M A RC H 2 3, 20 20 • $ 6 .9 5

IN THIS ISSUE

VOLUME 41 ISSUE 6 • MARCH 23, 2020 WWW.MULTICHANNEL.COM

FOLLOW US twitter.com/MultiNews www.facebook.com/MultichannelNewsMagazine CONTENT VP/Global Editor-In-Chief Bill Gannon, william.gannon@futurenet.com Content Director Kent Gibbons, kent.gibbons@futurenet.com Content Manager Michael Demenchuk, michael.demenchuk@futurenet.com Senior Content Producer - Programming R. Thomas Umstead, thomas.umstead@futurenet.com Senior Content Producer - Finance Mike Farrell, michael.farrell@futurenet.com Senior Content Producer - Washington John S. Eggerton, john.eggerton@futurenet.com Senior Content Producer - Technology Daniel Frankel, daniel.frankel@futurenet.com Senior Content Producer Michael Malone, michael.malone@futurenetcom Senior Content Producer Jon Lafayette, jon.lafayette@futurenet.com Content Engagement Manager Jessika Walsten, jessika.walsten@futurenet.com Assistant Content Producer Chelsea Anderson, chelsea.anderson@futurenet.com Contributor Paige Albiniak Production Manager Heather Tatrow Managing Design Director Nicole Cobban Senior Design Director Rosanna Bulian

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DEPARTMENTS

13 Welcome

8 PROGRAMMING 9 TECH 10 POLICY 11 BUSINESS 42 FREEZE FRAME 46 DATA MINE 48 VIEWPOINT 50 THE FIVE SPOT

14 Friday Abernethy 16 Tricia Alcamo 18 Lisa Bonnell 20 Samantha Cooper 22 Nancy Daniels 24 Rosalyn Durant 26 Mónica Gil 28 Georgia Juvelis 30 Jennifer Koester 31 Jeanine Liburd 32 Tina Perry 33 Stephanie Plasse 34 Women to Watch 39 Honor Roll

Also Inside

4 AGENDA

4 AGENDA The unprecedented coronavirus crisis has imposed an anxious “new normal” on American life — and created a daunting challenge for all sectors of TV and telecommunications. Here’s a look at how the industry is adjusting.

46 D ATAMINE Future plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR) www.futureplc.com

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3

AGENDA

Media Business Preps For New Normal Broadband providers react to new stresses from an unprecedented outbreak

By Mike Farrell michael.farrell@futurenet.com @MikeFCable

Getty IMages

A 4

s the country began to settle in for what may be a prolonged period of working from home and limiting exposure to the outside world to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the media business is bracing for the long-term impact.

So far, the industry has managed to absorb a 10,000-point drop in the stock market, the indefinite delay of production schedules for programming, the cancellation of industry events and the postponement of pretty much every major sporting event for the foreseeable future. Along the way, Americans learned a new term — social distancing — and are readying themselves for what could be a months-long confinement to their homes.

Early on, the cable industry responded quickly to the outbreak, ensuring broad access to the internet by offering free broadband service to low-income homes, and vowing to keep WiFi hotspots open to all residents. About 390 telecom companies, including most large and small cable operators, also have committed to Federal Communications Commission Multichannel.com

chairman Ajit Pai’s Keep America Connected Pledge, vowing not to disconnect any broadband customer for nonpayment linked to the outbreak, and waive late fees.

Large operators like Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and Altice USA all extended their data networks to include more lower-income homes with schoolage children, offering qualifying non-customers free access to broadband for 60 days.

Mediacom Communications chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso, whose company is raising broadband speeds and offering free service to qualifying homes for 60 days, said the outbreak has emphasized cable’s importance to a community as more and more people are needing reliable broadband to live their lives.

An Essential Service

“We are an essential service to people that have to work from home,” Commisso said.

“The industry that is making that possible is the cable industry, and that makes me feel good.”

Mediacom executive VP of operations John Pascarelli said that the outbreak has given some people in its service territory who had been on the fence concerning buying broadband service a needed push.

“We’ve certainly seen an increase of households that may have been living on the

As Americas are forced to stay home due to the coronavirus, cable connections have become crucial infrastructure.

edge with DSL or trying to make do with just the cellphone for data consumption in the home,” Pascarelli said. “They’ve hit a wall and are calling us to get service. Our sales levels are up significantly year-over-year in the last three days.”

With more people working from home, it could revitalize the home landline business, he added, as people look for more reliable connections than their cellphones.

Mediacom is about to launch a promotion to allow broadband customers to add landline phone service for $5 per month, Pascarelli said.

But he added that the uncertainty of how long the outbreak will last and how intense it will be can worry consumers and providers as well.

“As a company we’ve dealt with storms, hurricanes, the California fires, and you know as you’re progressing through the end of it, you can see a recovery,” Pascarelli said. “In this situation it’s like we’re trying to manage a power outage and you can’t see the end of it.

There’s no playbook for how we’re supposed to behave. We just continue to try to do what we think is right for our customers, our employees and our communities.”

Fitch Ratings director Patrice Cucinello said a lot of the impact will depend on how long home confinement lasts.

“Firms with better capitalized balance sheets, better liquidity situations, that are more diversified — they can manage through this period,” Cucinello said. “If this extends for a whole year, there are going to be a lot of businesses that face significant hurdles.”

Nowhere is that uncertainty more apparent than in the stock market, which has shed more than 10,000 points in the past several weeks.

According to one former media executive who asked not to be named, don’t expect many major corporate decisions to be made while the market continues to be volatile.

Schedules to Fill

With all the major sports leagues — NBA, NHL, MLB, MLS and the PGA Tour — suspending their seasons indefinitely (see Programming, page 8), and with big events like the Kentucky Derby and the French Open tennis tournament pushed to September, there arises the question as to how networks that rely on that programming can fill the hole.

ESPN, for example, brought back “The Ocho” on March 22, airing 24-hours of arm wrestling matches, cherry-pit spitting, robot fighting and other seldom seen sports.

While that tongue-in-cheek effort could last for a while, there is a real concern that a prolonged lack of sports programming will be an incentive for fans to cut the pay TV cord.

“That scares me more than anything right now,” Pascarelli said. “If that group becomes disenchanted and says, ‘I can save money because there is nothing on that I want to watch,’ if they end up disconnecting, that is going to be an acceleration of video losses.”

Cucinello added that the impact of the sports blackout will all depend on the duration.

“If this is two or three months, then it is a postponement and it’s less material,” she said. “If it’s longer than that, I think that all bets are off.” ●

AGENDA

THE STORY OF A LIFETIME The challenges of covering the COVID-19 pandemic are transforming how news organizations operate

By George Winslow winslowbc@gmail.com @GeorgeWinslow

Miya Mizuno/FX; Kurt Iswarienko/Oxygen; Smithsonian Channel; HBO; Amazon Prime; NBCUniversal

BIG NEWS STORIES can dominate the entire

6

news cycle for weeks, months, even years. But very few are as earth-shaking as the coronavirus outbreak, which is dominating the news cycle and changing the way news organizations work.

“We’ve never had to cover as large a global story as the spread of COVID-19 in our lifetimes,” Kimberly Godwin, executive VP of news at CBS News, said.

“This isn’t just a health story,” added Porter Berry, VP and editor-in-chief of Fox News Digital, which has launched new programming and content to cover the outbreak. “It is a story that impacts the economy, the health of the country. There are politics around it. It is disruptive to families. Schools are closing. It touches every piece of life in America and around the world.”

That has translated into intensive, often aroundthe-clock coverage both for broadcast and digital.

“Our only focus has been covering this story from all angles,” ABC News VP of newsgathering Wendy Fisher said. In addition to greatly increased coverage on all their shows, they recently aired a 20/20 special report on the virus and Nightline is devoting its entire show to the topic.

Viewers seem to be responding. CBS News reported that ratings for the March 16 airing of the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell grew by 64% versus a week earlier and that Face the Nation on March 15 posted its highest ratings since Jan. 22, 2017.

Digital news offerings for Fox News Digital, Newsy, CBS Digital and others were also reporting rapid growth. “Traffic is surging because people need reliable, timely information,” Christy Tanner, executive VP and general manager of CBS News Digital, said. “Providing a 24/7 live streaming news service [like CBSN] that is available on all platforms and devices … is providing a critical public service, particularly in an era when many cord-cutters don’t even have a TV.”

Above, Newsy has launched a new series, Virology, that provides background on the disease and topics like social distancing. Below, Dr. Vivek Murthy, surgeon general during the Obama administration, with anchor Norah O’Donnell on the CBS Evening News. that have multiple anchors. It has also eliminated live audiences.

“We have had to find workarounds for situations we’ve never faced before,” noted Godwin at CBS News, which had to close the CBS Broadcast Center in New York and move productions after some employees tested positive for the virus. “The team has broadcast from kitchens, the street, their home offices and more. Producers are managing live broadcasts from their living rooms. It’s unprecedented and also amazing.”

Other changes could have a longer-term impact on the way news is produced. Digital teams at Fox News, E.W. Scripps-owned Newsy, CBS News and other outlets are already working from home using tools like Skype,

Viral Workflows

More fundamentally, the story is also transforming the way news organizations operate.

Efforts to keep staff safe and healthy are already changing the look of newscasts, as networks implement social distancing for their on-screen talent. “You can see that on Good Morning America,” and in the fact that correspondents report remotely rather than sitting right next to the anchor, ABC’s Fisher explained.

Social distancing has also become standard practice for CBS, Fox News Channel and other networks. Fox News, for example, has implemented social distancing to reduce the risk of infection on programs like Fox & Friends, The Five and Outnumbered

Multichannel.com

We’ve never had to cover as large a global story as the spread of COVID-19 in our lifetime.

— Kimberly Godwin, executive VP of news, CBS News

Zoom, live streaming from smartphones and other tools to create virtual newsrooms and report stories.

“The great thing about digital is that we can work remotely,” Fox News’s Berry said. “Tools [like Skype] aren’t new, but we can use them more intensively than ever before.”

This also opens up a model for cross-platform news production between divisions and different media that could become even more important in the future, noted executives at both CBS News Digital and Newsy.

Newsy CEO Blake Sabatinelli said his outlet has been helped by its origins as a digital news service.

“We had a tremendous digital infrastructure that allowed us to produce news more efficiently that we will be leveraging to expand coverage in the next few months,” he said.

That infrastructure has allowed their digital staff to work remotely while producing a live feed for the cable channel with a reduced staff, he said. “We’ve always been very tech-heavy and that is really helping us now,” he added.

Newsy and CBS News Digital are also relying heavily on alliances they have with local broadcast stations owned by their parent companies. Tanner at CBS News Digital noted that the launch of local feeds of the CBSN streaming service in a number of markets has given them access to local content for their national feed that has greatly strengthened their coverage.

“The local operations are really helping national, streaming and digital,” Tanner said. “We can not only provide national coverage but local feeds of press conferences with governors and mayors that provide essential information to the public.” ●

For more on the COVID-19 coverage and some of the practical steps networks are taking to protect their staff go to multichannel.com/March23.

AGENDA

NAB SHOW IN VEGAS OFFICIALLY CANCELED Association will launch virtual ‘NAB Show Express’ National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith has alerted members and exhibitors that the canceled 2020 NAB Show will not be rescheduled, but will instead be reimagined as a “digital” platform dubbed NAB Show Express, which will launch in April, when the physical show would have been held in Las Vegas.

NBCUniversal is releasing theatricals like Trolls World Tour on VOD during its theatrical window.

THEATRICAL MOVIES HEAD TO VOD EARLY With cinemas closed, day-and-date distribution arrives

By R. Thomas Umstead thomas.umstead@futurenet.com @rtumstead30 Smith told C-SPAN canceling the NAB Show due to coronavirus concerns was a “great injury” to the association, but a decision it had to make. He also called it an “agonizing” decision, the economic impact of which — 100,000 attendees, one million feet of exhibit space — he was still calculating. Smith said that if the pandemic wanes he still hopes to have NAB Show 2021 next April.

He also said that this April the association would launch a “digital experience” called NAB Show Express for exhibitors and attendees, and that the October NAB Show New York would be enhanced. — John Eggerton

CLEARING THE AIR In the March 9 cover story, Upward Mobility, Comcast’s number of wireless subscribers was misstated.

Comcast finished 2019 with 2.05 million wireless customers, not 2.5 million.

FOR DECADES, ON-DEMAND content distributors have been seeking to get theatrical films distributed to homes close to day and date with their theatrical premieres. With the coronavirus outbreak forcing the shutdown of most major cinema chains, the industry is moving closer to that reality.

Studios are now testing earlier on-demand windows to supplement what quickly is becoming a nonexistent box-office business. From Sony’s sci-fi thriller Bloodshot, which will be available for digital purchase on March 24 — a little more than a week after debuting in theaters — to NBCUniversal’s decision to offer first-run films The Hunt, The Invisible Man and Emma for digital VOD release while the movies are still within their typical 90-day theatrical window, the devastating coronavirus outbreak has altered the dynamics of the on-demand movie category.

“Since going to movie theaters isn’t an option right now, we are not surprised that some studios have elected to quickly make their titles available to us in the on-demand window,” said Emilio Nunez, senior VP of content acquisition for In Demand. “We’ll continue to quickly respond to our partners and make PPV/VOD an option they can count on in a very fluid marketplace.”

Much like every segment of the U.S. economy, the coronavirus has effectively changed how the theatrical movie industry conducts business. With such movie chains as Regal, AMC, and Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas announcing a temporary shut down to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease, movie studios were forced to shelve existing theatrical releases, while postponing the spring launch of high-profile films like Disney’s Marvel Studios film Black Widow and MGM’s latest James Bond entry, No Time To Die, to late summer or fall.

Looking to to reach audiences, studios have turned to the on-demand platform in an effort to entice viewers who

are homebound in response to the government efforts to quell the virus.

NBCUniversal on March 13 said it will offer three movies, The Hunt, The Invisible Man and Emma, for rental at $19.99 — about $10 more than a movie within the VOD window — beginning March 20, well within the movies’ traditional three-month theatrical window.

In addition, NBCU’s animated title Trolls World Tour will now stream day and date with the movie’s April 10 theatrical release.

“Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable,” said NBCU CEO Jeff Shell, in a statement.

Warner Bros. moved up VOD windows for its D.C. Comics-based theatrical film Birds of Prey, which will be available for digital purchase on March 24 — about 45 days after its Feb. 7 theatrical release — as well as for its Jamie Foxx-starrer Just Mercy, which moved up its digital release date to March 19 from March 24.

Studios have traditionally been apprehensive about moving to day-and-date distribution for fear it would harm the box-office take. But with no box office to speak of in this era of coronavirus fears, the shortening of theatrical windows comes as more of a necessity than a choice.

“We hope and believe that people will still go to the movies in theaters where available, but we understand that for people in different areas of the world that is increasingly becoming less possible,” Shell said.

In Demand’s Nunez added that the VOD distributor is prepared to work with studios regarding the distribution of films during this unprecedented situation.

“We’re talking with our owners and our studio partners every day during this evolving situation,” Nunez said.

“We’re here to help them provide consumers with options that will benefit everyone during an unprecedented time when so many people are spending the majority of their time at home.” ●

Multichannel.com

7

PROGRAMMING

Games Are Gone, But Sports Nets Go On Library fare, talk shows round out replacement lineups

REVIEW

HOME BEFORE DARK (Premieres April 3 on Apple TV)

By R. Thomas Umstead thomas.umstead@futurenet.com @rtumstead30

Frank Micelotta/Fox Sports

A

14

fter an unprecedented shutdown of live sports events due to the coronavirus outbreak, national sports networks are looking to get back on the field with replacement content until the games resume.

Fox Sports and ESPN are both turning to library programming and talk shows in an effort to satiate fans looking to get their sports fix. “The challenge is that now we need to replicate that dynamic 24 hours a day, seven days a week across multiple platforms,” ESPN executive VP Burke Magnus said in a March 17 Q&A posted on ESPN. com. “That’s what is in front of us in terms of long-range programming.”

Sports analyst Lee Berke said the unprecedented moves by Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League and other major sports entities to suspend their seasons due to the coronavirus outbreak will cost national networks millions in lost ad revenue. Ultimately, those costs could be made up once the games begin.

“From a business standpoint, all of the contracts have force majeure clauses, and this is about as force majeure as it gets,” Berke said.

“Financially they could shift payments, extend years of the term, prorate any lost revenues — there are a variety of ways to approach it.”

In the meantime, networks are looking to fill lost scheduling time with library fare and chat. After a short hiatus, FS1 on March 18

Multichannel.com

returned two daily talk shows, Skip and Shannon Undisputed and The Herd With Colin Cowherd, to the schedule “in a modified format.” Further, FS1 will lean on evergreen programming, including classic baseball, NASCAR, boxing and college football contests, to keep viewers tuning in until the major sports leagues come back to the field of play.

Fox Sports continues to distribute live sports content — albeit with no live audiences — from such franchises as the Professional Bowlers Association tour and WWE. “Fox Sports has been working tirelessly, to return our FS1 daily lineup, while at the same time maintaining the health and safety of our employees during these challenging times,” the programmer said in a statement.

ESPN’s Magnus said that the network’s goals going forward are to be “relevant” through news and live studio programming such as SportsCenter and to entertain fans through archival and stunt event programming.

Magnus also explained that the network doesn’t have rights to full-game presentations across the leagues, adding it will require individual conversations with specific leagues or properties to determine what’s possible to air.

“We are working with the leagues themselves to free up the possibility of showing encore presentations and discussing how we can present them,” he said. “Event programming will continue to be supplemented by ESPN live studio and news programming, plus original shows and films.”

Berke said once the games do return, so will the viewers. “When sports comes back, sports viewership will come back with a vengeance,” he said. ●

Sports networks are filling the gap with library programming and talk shows like FS1’s Skip and Shannon: Undisputed.

Apple TV+ continues its original scripted series rollout series with a new and compelling mystery drama, Home Before Dark.

The series follows a young female protagonist Hilde Lisko (Brooklynn Prince), who at 9 years old is a dedicated reporter who prints her own news publication from her Brooklyn home with the help of her journalist father Matthew (Jim Sturgess).

When Matthew loses his newspaper job, the family is forced to move cross-country to Erie Harbor, the small town where Matthew grew up.

Very quickly, Hilde realizes that life in a small town is a lot different and more secretive than the bustling confines of New York. As Hilde looks to settle in, a mysterious death occurs in the town. Soon afterwards Hilde launches an online publication that speculates on the circumstances surrounding the death, but it’s met with ridicule by most.

Hilde is chastised for disseminating fake and fraudulent news by her classmates and local police authorities.

Undeterred, Hilde continues her search for the truth and begins to uncover not only evidence that could undermine local authorities, but also unearth a cold case that the townspeople tried to bury. When it becomes clear that her father could be part of the coverup, Hilde enlists the help of a local police officer (Aziza Scott) to try to solve the mystery.

Home Before Dark is inspired by the reporting of real-life young investigative journalist Hilde Lysiak, and offers a smart portrayal of a mystery from a perspective not often shown on television. Viewers will automatically recognize the fatherdaughter bond between Hilde and Matthew while being drawn into the twists and turns of the mystery engulfing Erie Harbor that builds throughout the 10-episode series.

Apple TV+, which will stream the first three episodes on the show’s premiere date, has already renewed Home Before Dark for a second season.— RTU

TECH

Can the Internet Go the Distance?

With data use up 27% amid social distancing, there’s concern over strain on the broadband pipes

By Daniel Frankel daniel.frankel@futurenet.com @dannyfrankel

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Facebook’s ‘Big Surges’

Meanwhile, in a conference call with reporters, Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his social network is seeing “big surges” in usage amid the coronavirus pandemic. He said Facebook has nearly doubled its server capacity to power messaging app WhatsApp as users place more voice and video calls on the platform.

Regulators in both the U.S. and Europe are concerned that all this increased social distancing usage will break the internet.

In a tweet posted Wednesday, Thierry Breton, the French businessman serving as European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, said he had a phone conversation with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. He’s urging Netflix and other OTT companies to stream

their video in standard definition instead of the much higher intensity high-def or 4K/Ultra HD. In a statement, Breton said streaming platforms, telecom operators and internet users “all have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus propagation.”

Netflix initially responded by touting its Open Connect program, which allows ISPs to locally manage the SVOD service’s traffic on their networks. But Netflix later agreed to lower the bitrate in which it streams its video for 30 days in Europe. “We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members,” Netflix said.

U.S. regulators are concerned, too.

“This is going to be an enormous stress test for our communications networks,” Blair Levin, a former FCC chief of staff and author of the agency’s 2010 plan to improve internet

U.S. home broadband use during business hours has risen to 6.3 GB, per OpenVault, up 41.4% from January.

We’re doing everything in our power to make sure that our networks are there when our customers need them.

— Adam Koeppe, senior VP for technology strategy and planning, Verizon Communications

access nationwide, told CNN. The FCC has already given T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless increased access to the 600 Megahertz spectrum for the next 60 days, providing extra wireless capacity for data connections.

More Room for Wireless

“We’re doing everything in our power to make sure that our networks are there when our customers need them,” Verizon senior VP for technology strategy and planning Adam Koeppe said in a statement. “While our networks continue to perform well during this crisis, this spectrum will allow us to add capacity to ensure great service for our customers, businesses and all on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19.”

Those charged with lobbying for the telecom industry have tried to strike a reassuring tone. In a letter to leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee and the House Energy & Commerce Committee, US Telecom president and CEO Jonathan Spalter wrote, “Broadband providers are laser focused on making sure the innovative networks they built and manage are ready to accommodate a prolonged reliance on telework, distance learning and other forms of high bandwidth remote communications."

In another statement, Lise Fuhr, director general of the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, said, “At this stage, new traffic patterns are being effectively handled by engineers as per standard network operations.” ●

Multichannel.com

Vivan Mehra/The The India Today Group via Getty Images

hile global attention has rightfully focused on whether city hospitals and central banks can hold up to the massive, sudden pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, another system has also come under concern: broadband infrastructure.

OpenVault, a company that consults cable operators and other internet service providers, said U.S. homes are now using 460 gigabytes of data per month, a 27% increase over what had been the previous record usage month, January. During business hours, as households use their residential broadband subscriptions for remote office work and virtual schooling, average usage has risen to 6.3 GB, up 41.4% over January, OpenVault said.

Evenings are the peak hours, with consumers no longer out at bars, restaurants, sporting events and social gatherings, but streaming high- definition and 4K video instead. OpenVault said average usage between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. in March has risen 17.2%, to 5.87 GB. Nokia’s Deepfield, another surveyor of real-time network performance, said it has observed 20% to 40% increased network use during these “peak” hours.

Netflix traffic has risen 54% to 75%, according to Nokia Deepfield, and online gaming usage has grown 400%.

Nielsen, which has observed TV usage increases during recent disasters including the 2016 Northeast blizzard and Hurricane Harvey in 2017, expects streaming usage to spike as much as 61%.

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POLICY

ISP Coronavirus Efforts Can’t Bridge Political Gap Regulatory status colors response to offers of help

I

By John Eggerton john.eggerton@futurenet.com @eggerton

nternet-service provider efforts to help close the digital divide and homework gap in the face of a pandemic that will require a new, remote normal have not closed the Washington, D.C., political divide over the treatment of deregulated ISPs. Calls from Congress for emergency action have had a partisan cast. Letters from the House and Senate, signed only by Democrats, combined requests for price breaks and free service with invocations of regulatory gaps and industry failings that, they argued, the pandemic has exposed.

For example, a story in The Washington Post said that educators complaining about students lacking broadband raised the question “of whether the U.S, government and the telecom industry should have done more to cure the country’s digital divide — well before a pandemic gripped the nation.”

FCC Democrats, led by commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, have long argued the agency and carriers weren’t doing enough to close the digital divide and the homework gap.

One suggestion from critics of the FCC’s deregulation of internet access is that the reason chairman Ajit Pai had to “make” the ISPs sign a “Keep Americans Connected” voluntary pledge not to pull the plug on subscribers that could not pay their bills, temporarily waive late fees and open their WiFi hotspots was that the agency gave away its authority over broadband Pai’s deregulatory fervor.

Tech news and opinion site website Ars Technica, a frequent Pai critic, headlined a story “After Deregulatory Blitz, FCC Scrambles to Prevent ISP Abuse During Pandemic,”

ISPs Enter Virus Fight

suggesting that it was the elimination of network-neutrality rules that required Pai to pressure the ISPs into helping out. A spokesperson for Pai declined to comment.

One Democratic senator not afraid to give ISPs credit for their offerings was Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), one of the signatories to the Senate letter. Following the pledge and a string of announcements from ISPs about the resiliency of their networks and their efforts to keep people connected, and connect more people, Warner said in a public statement: “I’m pleased to see companies committing to expanding broadband access for students who may not have it so that their educations are not completely disrupted during school closures.” Though he did attribute the action

THE KLOBUCHAR EFFECT The stock of Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a veteran Senate Commerce Committee member familiar to communications industry stakeholders, for a VP spot has risen with the

Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

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to response to his letter, he, too, was getting political mileage out of the ISP move.

For their part, House Energy & Commerce Committee Republican leaders highlighted what the private sector has done to ensure Americans have "vital internet services" during the coronavirus pandemic. They hailed the Pai pledge and praised ISPs for their numerous individual efforts, saying it was “a tremendous opportunity to work in a bipartisan way to improve connectivity issues.” No Democrats joined in that statement.

Comcast Cable president and CEO Dave Watson, in announcing the cable operator’s ongoing efforts, suggested it did not take government praise or prods to do the right thing in the current crisis.

“Our employees also live and work in virtually every community we serve, and we all share the same belief that it’s our company’s responsibility to step up and help out,” he said.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel have long argued the FCC and ISPs weren't doing enough to close the digital divide and homework gap.

In addition to the FCC’s “pledge,” here are some of the FCC and ISP efforts, both before and after legislators weighed in, efforts Republicans were praising and Democrats were suggesting, while good, were not enough: • The FCC provided temporary telework waivers to help American Sign Language interpreters provide video relay services to the deaf and hard of hearing and allows T-Mobile to use additional spectrum contributed on a temporary basis by Comcast, Dish and others.

• AT&T is paying to set up a “one-stop” resource center to support the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), which is developing distance learning tools for parents, teachers and schools.

• Cox Communications and Comcast relax their data usage overage charges for all tiers for the next 60 days.

• Verizon Communications pledged to boost capital spending by $500 million this year to speed 5G and “help support the economy during this period of disruption.”

• Various ISPs offered free broadband to low-income households without it for 60 days, with no obligation to continue the service after that time.

• Various ISPs boosted broadband speeds for no extra charge. ●

announcement of former Vice President Joe Biden that he is definitely picking a woman for that post.

Washington Post editorial writers handicapped the VP race, with ex-presidential candidates Klobuchar and Sen. Kamala Harris of California tied at the top. But that was before Biden announced that he would also be naming an African-American woman to the Supreme Court. If Biden wanted to woo followers of a couple of former opponents, he could name Harris, an

African-American woman, to the court, and tap Klobuchar for the VP spot.

As a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, Klobuchar has supported bills to re-regulate cable franchise fees and create a privacy bill of rights. She has long been a big supporter of "dig once'' policies directing broadband deployments to be coordinated with road construction/ improvements. She also pushed for the The Honest Ads Act, which creates online political ad public files and bars foreign entities from ad buys. — John Eggerton

BUSINESS

Corona Crash Sends Stocks Into Tailspin

And investors shouldn’t bank on all cable stocks being unaffected, he added. He pointed to Comcast: Although cable distribution makes up more than 50% of its business, the company has theme-park and movie-studio operations that are affected by the outbreak. And he sees four segments of the overall industry that will likely be hardest hit by the coronavirus — business services, local advertising, housing formation and broadband share gains.

“But none of these factors are close to alarming, and, again, none come anywhere close to the level of exposure of the average business to a deep recession,” Moffett wrote. “In short, the cable stocks, to us, look badly oversold.”

Cable shares are paying the price as investors react to COVID-19 pandemic

A

s the coronavirus continued to obliterate the economy, cable stocks, less than three months after enjoying their best year in more than two decades, have given back all of those gains, with some stocks falling to their lowest points in years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been on a seesaw since Feb. 20, with the markets losing and gaining thousands of points as sentiment shifted along with proposals for bailouts to counter the economic downturn accelerated by the COVID-19 outbreak. On March 18, the Dow fell 1,300 points (a three-year low), a day after a gain of more than 1,000 points and two trading days after the index saw its single largest point drop ever (2,997 points) on March 16. Since Feb. 20 the Dow has shed nearly 10,000 points — dropping from 29,220 to 19,893 on March 18.

Cable distribution stocks, which enjoyed a 78% gain in 2019 (their biggest increase since 1998), are now down a collective 21%. What’s most concerning is that the bulk of that decline has occurred in a little more than a month.

Cable distribution stocks were on a pace toward a 16.5% gain until Feb. 20. Between Feb. 20 and March 18, the sector fell 32%.

Telco and satellite stocks are in almost the same boat. Between Dec. 31, 2019, and Feb. 20, the sector was up a modest 1.3%, fueled mostly by a 13% gain in Dish shares. But in the past five weeks, as Dish has fallen 54%, the sector lost 23% of its value.

The Dish decline, according to Moffett­ Nathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett, is tied to the satellite giant’s need to build out a nationwide wireless network. Dish agreed to purchase T-MobileSprint’s prepaid wireless business as well as a swath of spectrum to build out a competing wireless service. Dish has said it will spend about $10 billion on that buildout, but many analysts believe that figure is low.

Moffett wrote in a blog post.

The cable distribution sector was supposed to be the one to ride out the coronavirus scare the best. With millions of people confined to their homes for work, play and school, cable subscriptions were expected to be more critical than ever. And not just for broadband access for work and school. With restaurants, bars, movie theaters and anywhere else where more than 10 people can gather within a six-foot radius of each other pretty much off limits, a pay TV connection is for some their sole source of entertainment.

The downturn has puzzled many.

Moffett noted that cable stocks losing all of their 2019 gains “makes no sense.”

“There is simply no plausible argument that a cable operator’s business will be anywhere near as cyclically exposed as the broader economy,” Moffett continued.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a seesaw since Feb. 20.

CABLE CRASH Cable stocks, up nearly 80% in 2019, have given that increase back in the past three weeks as the coronavirus has decimated the stock market overall.

12/31/19

3/18/20

% Change

Comcast

$44.97 $35.68 -20.7%

Charter

$485.08 $381.52 -21.3%

Cable One

$1,488.47

$1,183.45

-20.5%

Altice USA

$27.34

$17.78

-35%

AT&T

$39.08 $32.49 -16.9%

Dish

$35.47

Verizon

$61.40 $54.43 -11.4%

Disney

$144.63 $88.04 -39.1%

Fox

$37.07 $22.34 -39.7%

Discovery

$32.74 $19.88 -39.3%

Viacom

$41.97 $12.01 -71.4%

AMC Networks

$39.50

WWE

$64.87 $33.42 -48.5%

No Appetite for Big Plans

“The market’s appetite for big, expensive, and speculative projects has dried up,”

Shaky Ground Under Programmers

SOURCE: NASDAQ website

$18.74

$25.77

-47.2%

-34.8%

Programmers were on shaky ground to begin with — shares in the sector were down 11% between Dec. 31 and Feb. 20 — but went into a near freefall in the past four weeks, shedding 37% since Feb. 20. In 2020, the stocks are down a disappointing 44%.

Among the top decliners was The Walt Disney Co., which hit its lowest point in six years on March 18 ($79.07 per share) before rallying to finish the day at $88.04 per share, its lowest close in two years. Disney stock is down 39% since the beginning of the year.

Disney is facing a triple whammy from COVID-19. Besides having to shut down its theme parks and delay theatrical releases from its movie studios in response to the coronavirus, ESPN is without live games because of the league suspensions (see Programming, page 8).

MoffettNathanson media analyst Michael Nathanson estimated that Disney’s Media Networks division, which includes ESPN and its ABC broadcast network, could see a $250 million decline in cash flow for fiscal 2020 due to the league shutdowns. And that includes a $150 million gain from not having to pay for sports rights.

“However, this could prove to be much worse on the cash flow line if ESPN is forced to pay for sports rights in the short term in exchange for longer term solutions,” Nathanson wrote.

Those declines are nothing compared to the cratering of ViacomCBS shares, only four months removed from the merger that was supposed to right the floundering programmer. ViacomCBS shares are down 71% since the beginning of the year, as the programmer was hit hard by the loss of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Adding pressure on the shares is the possibility that its largest shareholder — Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc. — may have to sell shares to satisfy debt covenants for the parent company. NAI has said it does not believe it will have to sell ViacomCBS stock. ●

Multichannel.com

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

By Mike Farrell michael.farrell@futurenet.com @MikeFCable

11

AGENDA

THE WATCHMAN

WATCH THIS …

Senior content producer Michael Malone’s look at the programming scene

Council of Dads NBC debuts Council of Dads Tuesday. A father of five has his life turned upside down by a health scare. He calls in a cadre of backup dads to support his giant family.

Also on Tuesday, it’s One Day at a Time on Pop TV. The family comedy previously had three seasons on Netflix. Making the Cut starts on Amazon Friday. Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn host and executive-produce this fashion competition Tacoma FD

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

Firefighters Hot for ‘Tacoma FD’

TruTV; Disney XD; Seth F. Johnson/NBC; Steve Deitl/Netflix; PBS

Season two of Tacoma FD starts on truTV March 26.

Steve Lemme and Kevin Heffernan play firefighters in rainy Tacoma, Washington. The creator pair said they hear from plenty of first responders who dig the show.

“We are told it’s the most accurate firefighter show on television,” said Lemme. “There’s plenty of hijinks and comedy.”

Well-regarded comedies today tilt toward dramedies, but Tacoma FD sticks to the yuks. “We create a world that people want to hang out in,” said Heffernan.

The season has 13 episodes, after season one had 10.

Heffernan sees it as a vote of confidence from truTV. “I think it was a test run last season,” he said, “and we passed the test.”

Joe Pantoliano guest stars. The season’s highlight?

Heffernan “shaking his tail feather,” said Lemme, in a salsa lesson. “It’s an incredible dance sequence,” he added.

12

DuckTales Multichannel.com

Noted Heffernan, “I will tell you — things go awry.”

Cub Reporter on Apple TV+ Home Before Dark is on Apple TV+ April 3. It’s based on the gumshoe endeavors of Hilde Lysiak (see Review, page 8). When she was 9, Lysiak broke the news about a murder in her neighborhood in her Orange Street News.

“From that moment on, for her it was, this is who I am, and this is what I have to do with my life,” said Dana Fox, showrunner/executive producer.

The series is far more than a “plucky little girl who solves crimes,” said Fox. “She takes the job of finding the truth very seriously.”

Brooklynn Prince plays Hilde. Fox called her “a complete revelation.”

Home Before Dark is a bingeable mystery, said Fox, and fun for the whole family. She compares it to watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Goonies with her family as a girl. “You see exciting, wonderful, scary things,” she said. “And at the end of the day, you’re OK.”

Fowl Play on Disney XD On April 4, it’s season three of DuckTales on Disney XD. The Duck family embarks on a globetrotting hunt for the world’s greatest lost artifacts. Huey, Dewey and Louie work side by side this season.

“We never had a season where the whole family shares a goal,” co-executive producer Francisco Angones said of them taking on Fiendish Organization for World Larceny (F.O.W.L.).

Danny Pudi voices Huey, Ben Schwartz handles Dewey and Bobby Moynihan is Louie. Exec producer Matt Youngberg said each actor puts his own stamp on his duck. “Each has such a distinct voice, but they meld so well together,” he said.

Youngberg and Angones said it’s the characters that keep viewers watching DuckTales. “Once viewers have emotional resonance with the characters,” Youngberg said, “they want to see what happens to them.” ●

Ozark series. Twelve designers strut their stuff, visiting New York, Paris and Tokyo to tackle new challenges. Also on Friday, it’s season three of Ozark on Netflix. Jason Bateman plays financial planner Marty Byrde, who owes a favor or two to some mobsters. Laura Linney plays his wife.

On Sunday, Call the Midwife starts season nine on PBS. The medics and midwives of Nonnatus House encounter new challenges as the population shifts, rules change and old diseases come creeping back.

Call the Midwife

WONDER WOMEN 2020

HERE’S TO THE LEADERS MCN’s 2020 Wonder Women to be celebrated Sept. 30

T

here is never a better time than now to celebrate the accomplishments of women in media. Television in particular has evolved to provide more leadership opportunities for women, especially in categories such as programming, legal affairs and communication, but also in companies’ corner offices.

Multichannel News has proudly highlighted

high-achieving women executives for more than two decades, in print, online and at our annual New York City gala luncheon events, which also support the mission of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT)’s New York chapter.

The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus has disrupted our live-event scheduling, but our mission of celebration persists. We have moved the 22nd annual Wonder Women luncheon back,

from March 26 to Sept. 30, at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.

While we all are adapting to the workplace, social, economic and health-and-safety challenges that have reshaped our shared reality, now is a good time to tell the stories of the 2020 Wonder Women and Women to Watch. We hope you enjoy these profiles and look forward to gathering with these accomplished women, and with you, to continue the celebration on Sept. 30.

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WONDER WOMEN 2020

Friday Abernethy Senior VP of Content Distribution, Univision Communications

By Marc Berman marc@programminginsider.com @marcberman

F

rom an early age, Univision’s Friday Abernethy had aspirations about working in media, but her path into the field wasn’t a direct one. “When I was offered a position within the banking industry at JPMorgan Chase at the start of my career, I thought that was a really unbelievable opportunity to learn an industry and be trained from such an esteemed organization,” she recalled. “The people I met, the departments I interacted with, and everything in between was simply a great way to launch my work life.”

Segueing into GE Capital, Abernethy spent the first six years of her career in financial services. “I really appreciated the intellectual aspects of the jobs, but I was not really passionate in what I was doing,” she said.

“Since this was in the infancy of the internet, I just thought it was a golden opportunity. I wanted to be part of it.”

Flash to Viacom Media Networks in 1998, specifically MTV Networks, and Abernethy was the company’s first internet hire.

Following her most recent position at Pop TV, which she helped transition from the TV listings channel TVGN to a full-scale entertainment network, Abernethy is now senior VP, content distribution and business development at Univision Communications.

She manages the team responsible for negotiating sales and licensing efforts for both television and digital platforms under a variety of business models. This includes broadcast television, sports and Spanishlanguage programming, and with all major linear and online distributors of content (along with subscription video-on-demand, over the top and social distributors).

“The increasing opportunities in digital right now are the new normal,” Abernethy noted. “Nothing is really complete at present without some digital component.”

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“We reach the Hispanic audience and it is really important that we are educating all of the partners and platforms out there about the Hispanic consumer and the growth that is available on all the platforms of Univision Communications,” she said, citing the nearly 60 million Hispanics in the United States.

These platforms include Univision, UniMás, Galavisión, El Rey Network and Spanishlanguage sports network TUDN (formerly Univision Deportes Network).

Selling Content and Culture

“What is really great about Univision is how it provides content in culture and in language, which I think is really important as the third-generation Hispanics continue to embrace their heritage,” Abernethy said. “If you are an outsider looking in the media industry, you have no idea how important the licensing revenue is for any media company.

"These are leverage negotiations, so you can ultimately have very challenging conversations with clients, but you work with them in such intense and intimate moments you can also become very good friends with them after the deal is done.”

“We also work in a business right now so much more digitally focused,” she noted. “One of the first deals I did in partnership with other people within Univision was to figure out how we could get on the Sling platform, which was sort of our first foray into this new digital world. Since then, and as we continue to evolve as an organization, I still have my footing heavily within the MVPD world, but my team also oversees AVOD deals, third-party app deals and any new MVPD deals that are coming into fruition.”

Abernethy also cited wireless as a new arena that is now becoming more prevalent, as well as a space Univision wants to partner in.

“The field is now so much broader in how we can license our product, we must ensure that our audience has access to it,” she said.

“It’s about making sure that our content is available across all platforms.”

“As tough as Friday can be, she is also very fair, very direct and always truthful,” said Henry Ahn, Univision’s president of content distribution and partnerships, who joined the company less than two years ago from Scripps Networks Interactive. “Your reputation does not happen overnight. It is built over many years in the course of a career. Even before I wasn’t working with her, I knew of Friday’s reputation as someone you could simply trust.

“Friday has a great attitude; not just at work

Career Highlights:

Launching the Logo network at Viacom at a time when the LGBTQ community was not embraced; expanding into the digital space.

At Univision, launching sports network TUDN.

Quotable: “We are here working for big organizations at a time of great change. But when there is a mission behind what you are personally doing, it makes the work all that much more meaningful. It gives you a purpose, which really drives me.”

but in life in general,” he added. “People like her, she likes to be around people, and in our business that goes a very long way.”

Cox Communications senior VP of content distribution Andy Albert called Abernethy a “great people leader.”

“Friday is an extremely well-respected, tough-but-fair negotiator with deep experience in content distribution,” Albert said.

“Increasingly valued as the industry shifts, she is highly adaptable to changes, handles adversity well and is able to roll with the punches. She’s also well-liked and a great people leader, someone who many of her extensive contacts in the industry would jump to work with.”

What’s in a Name?

As for her unique first name, it’s nothing more than a nickname, Abernethy said. “My real first name is Kristen, but I have always been called Friday,” she said. “My parents are Midwest, wonderful and earnest people, and not necessarily cool and hip enough to name a child Friday. But I was born on a Friday and it just stuck as a nickname from an early age.

“And, let’s face it — it’s certainly better than being called Sunday or Monday!” ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Tricia Alcamo Group VP, Human Resources, Spectrum Enterprise, Charter Communications

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

W

hen she’s not managing human resources at Spectrum Enterprise, Tricia Alcamo enjoys racing sailboats. Being on the boat offers fresh air, exercise and relaxation — and even a few business lessons to boot.

“You can only be good at a specific job on a big boat if you understand what all the other jobs are, too,” she said. “If you’re going to win in a sailboat race, you need 12 persons working together in perfect unison.”

Alcamo manages human resources for the 5,000 people within Spectrum Enterprise, and has worked hard to get them all moving together in perfect unison. Spectrum Enterprise is part of Charter Communications, the second-biggest U.S. cable company.

It provides networking services and architecture to businesses across America, whether

related to voice, video, data, managed service solutions or other products.

Alcamo came on board in 2016 after 14 years at American Express, arriving two months after the massive merger between Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Charter Communications. “This role brought together the many different positions I had over the course of my career,” she said.

Having studied mergers up close when she was in the merger-integration business at Deloitte Consulting just after college, Alcamo passed along key lessons to staffers after the rollup went down. For starters, be comfortable with discomfort. “Accept the fact that integrations of that size are messy work,” she said. “There are operational elements, there are cultural elements, and you’re signing up for something that’s not the status quo.”

Alcamo also stressed that a merger allows forward-thinking employees to establish the kind of culture they truly want to work in.

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“Create the brand, create the business strategy,” she said. “Rarely in a steady-state situation do you get to do that.”

Her overarching strategy to get everyone on the same page was to always think about, and plan for, a better tomorrow. “Look at what the legacy companies bring to the table,” Alcamo said. “Put it all together and think about what works best for the company going forward.”

Making a Mark

Alcamo has made a significant mark on the joined company. She was behind Accelerate You, a program designed to grow and develop talent in the organization and grow employees’ leadership skills. “It was a way to bring together all of our different activities around investing in people and learning and development skills and capabilities,” she said. “It is designed to help people succeed in their roles now, but also in the future.”

Alcamo was also behind Spectrum Enterprise’s Women’s Leadership Mentoring program. Women in leadership roles sign up to be “mentees” and are paired up with another female executive a level or two above them on the org chart.

That nine-month program launched in January 2019. Alcamo and other Spectrum Enterprise leaders are contemplating what it will look like the next time around.

“It provided us with a good framework to think about a broader mentorship program,” she said.

Her Spectrum Enterprise colleagues said the company culture is richer with Alcamo overseeing HR. “She really empowers and supports our organization,” Tammy Zimmerman, senior director of human resources at Spectrum Enterprise, said. “You want to follow someone who believes in your capabilities and the capabilities of the organization.”

Bill Archer, executive VP and president of Spectrum Enterprise, said Alcamo “combines business acumen and problem-solving skills with an ability to relate to people and communicate her ideas to create value for our team and organization. Under her leadership, we are transforming the way we attract, develop and advance the people who will drive our business to future success.”

A single mother of two, Alcamo was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, and her tenacious work at American Express throughout her treatment earned her Working Mother of the Year honors from Working Mother Magazine in 2015. “I was very open at work about what I was going

Career Highlights:

Led development of the HR strategy for Spectrum Enterprise following the merger of Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Launched the Spectrum Enterprise Women’s Leadership Initiative, the first developmentfocused effort of its kind at Spectrum Enterprise.

Made a significant industry change to join Charter in 2016 (“and being on stage in St. Louis — speaking in front of 300 employees — on my first day on the job!”).

Quotable: “Within Spectrum Enterprise, all of these initiatives are bearing fruit and we're seeing more diversity at senior leadership levels.

We just know that more diversity in leadership drives better results.”

through,” she said. “Having that recognition at that time was just amazing.”

Alcamo enjoys sailing and skiing with her daughters, who are 13 and 11. They sail on the Long Island Sound. Alcamo is a “pit person” on the sailboat, situated near the bottom of the mast. “I am very quickly tailing lines, and making sure everything runs free when we have a sail change,” she said.

Thrills on the Hills

When winter rolls around, Alcamo and her daughters are up in the Catskills every weekend. Alcamo used to sit in the lodge as her kids would ski, but pushed herself to take lessons. “It was fun in the lodge, but it looked like fun out there, too,” she said.

Alcamo describes herself as a binge-watcher of television. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel I love, Handmaid’s Tale scares the heck out of me and The Crown was really compelling,” she said of series she recently binged.

As always, Alcamo is focused on how Spectrum Enterprise can better serve its clients, today and tomorrow. “I think about HR strategy and the talent we are attracting, and the kind of learning and development we are doing, with client centricity in mind,” she said.

“The talent we need at Spectrum Enterprise is out there understanding our clients’ businesses and our clients’ needs, and helping to think about what kind of large networking solutions would meet those needs. ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Lisa Bonnell Senior VP, Global Audit and General Auditor, Comcast NBCUniversal

By Mike Farrell michael.farrell@futurenet.com @MikeFCable

L

ooking back, it probably isn’t much of a stretch to think that growing up near the beach in Santa Cruz, California, Lisa Bonnell would want to pursue a career in marine biology. Bonnell, who now leads the global audit functions for entertainment giant Comcast NBCUniversal, once saw herself sailing around the world seeking out new species of fish. But then she found out how much marine biologists make.

“I had this great beach life planned out for myself and then I realized they don’t make any money and most of them end up as SCUBA instructors, no joke,” Bonnell, who has a strong practical streak to go with a sharp sense of humor, said. “Having parts of my childhood when I was literally legit hungry for years, I decided that probably wasn’t the way I wanted to go. I figured it could be a second career and it may still be some day, you never know.”

Luckily, Bonnell had always had a knack for math and squeezed in several economics and statistics courses into her schedule, graduating from Santa Clara University in 1991 with a degree in economics.

After a short stint at Lockheed Martin, where she spent about a year doing statistical analysis of the company’s benefit plan, Bonnell moved to Ernst & Young (now EY), where she began to hit her stride. She joined the Big 8 (now Big 4) accounting firm around the same time as the business world was “freaking out,” she said, about Y2K, and had the opportunity to learn about different industries and processes and travel the globe. The experience led her to work with companies as diverse as The Walt Disney Co. and Coca-Cola.

Learning Lots at EY

“The great thing about EY was you’d get parachuted in to a project and you had three or four days to get it together, to understand what was going on in the project, who the stakehold 18

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ers were, what the major issues were, before you were asked to stand up and present your area in front of the client folks,” Bonnell said.

“It really forces you to get comfortable with learning on the fly, presenting in front of people on topics you know nothing about and then how to quickly gather and synthesize information. They really helped prep me for any job I had in the future.”

Bonnell was at EY for about five years, moving to computer maker Dell in 1998 to be closer to her parents in Austin, Texas. At the time, her father had been diagnosed with brain cancer and Bonnell moved down to help her mother care for him.

Bonnell took a job in finance at Dell, supporting its IT organization. About eight months in, an Oracle implementation the IT department was conducting went sideways.

“It was messy,” Bonnell said. “They knew from the consulting firms that they had had in helping them, that that was something EY would have dropped me in to do at another client. So I got yanked out of my job but good and [Dell] said ‘We heard you could fix this,’ and I did. That kind of set the stage for my career at Dell.”

Over the next five years at Dell, Bonnell moved throughout the company about every 18 months or so, putting out fires along the way. In 2007, when Dell decided it had to take $1 billion in costs out of the company, Bonnell was again pressed into service, helping it move away from in-house manufacturing and setting up supply chains between computer makers in China with retailers in the U.S. Bonnell stayed at Dell for five years, leaving a few years after the company bought Perot Systems in 2009, when she decided she wasn’t quite cut out for the company’s new buttoned-down culture. At the same time, a former colleague had begun working for Comcast NBCUniversal, and encouraged Bonnell to come aboard.

Bonnell joined Comcast in 2011, initially to help with the integration of NBCU. She later moved over to Comcast Business, running operations for that business telecom unit for a few years and rejoining the audit division in 2016.

Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh, to whom Bonnell reports, said that her wide range of experience and ability to solve problems quickly has been a valuable asset as Comcast has grown.

“Lisa’s versatile experience, including overseeing the operations for Comcast Business, provides her with a unique ability to identify opportunities and mitigate risk across the entire company,” Cavanagh said.

“She is a terrific and strategic leader who has

Career Highlights:

Bonnell earned a reputation as a “fixer” at Dell, where she led a transformation from in-house manufacturing and set up supply chains between computer makers in China and retailers in the U.S. At Comcast, she has been a key figure in the integrations of major purchases like NBC Universal and Sky.

Quotable: “[At Dell] I could have told you exactly the size of the bolt that you need to close the door on a shipping container to put in 1,000 boxes that are packaged specifically for Walmart. Thankfully, I’ve lost that.”

developed a very strong team and is a great partner of mine.”

As the head of the audit division, Bonnell is in charge of making sure financial reporting across the entire company is accurate and compliant with regulations. But it isn’t all spreadsheets and computer models either.

Comcast has a crack team of finance professionals that keep a close eye on reporting requirements. Bonnell herself gets in the weeds too, conducting Sarbanes-Oxley tests and the like, but also takes time out to focus on risk management and cybersecurity.

‘Cool Stuff’ to Do

“I get to do cool stuff here that most other audit shops are not doing,” she said. “While I know people don’t describe internal audit as change agent, that’s what we’re doing.”

Bonnell added that she and her team go through every Comcast business in the company, from Fandango to Universal Theme Parks to regional sports networks and beyond, not just focusing on financials.

“The beauty of our team is we spend our time in the field, so when we audit stuff, we’re there,” Bonnell said, adding that that approach allows the team to train and educate workers on new processes.

“No one loves to get audited,” Bonnell said.

“But when we leave, they feel that they’ve learned a ton. We get a lot more thank-yous than hate mail, and that’s great.” ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Samantha Cooper Executive VP of Global Content Licensing, ViacomCBS

By Michael Malone michael.malone@futurenet.com @BCMikeMalone

S

am Cooper has spent 22 years at Viacom, but her role is shifting as the industry redefines itself.

Cooper oversees subscription video-on-demand licensing for the company, scoping out the over-the-top landscape as well-funded new players enter the market. Viacom and CBS closed on their pair-up in December, and the merger caused “a bit of a pivot” for Cooper, as she puts it.

“I kind of doubled down on the types of transactions I love,” she said. “I got a little further away from the pay TV transactions and deals I’ve been working on for 22 years to do something that’s a little more global.”

Cooper is focused on content licensing, seeing which series within CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon and other ViacomCBS networks would do best on an external streaming service, or if they’d play better in-house. Late in 2019, she worked on a streaming rights

deal that saw 23 seasons of Comedy Central’s South Park go to HBO Max, a pact valued at more than $500 million. She also worked out international deals for the animated series on Netflix and Amazon.

“Before, it was separate Paramount, separate CBS, separate Viacom, different people negotiating those,” Cooper said. “Now it’s all one front door.”

Power Portfolio

ViacomCBS includes MTV, CBS, BET, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Paramount’s film library and other entities.

Cooper has held an array of posts within Viacom, including senior VP of content distribution and business development at Viacom Media Networks and BET Networks.

Prior to coming on board at Viacom, she was in content distribution for Food Network, and ran communications for the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM).

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The ViacomCBS marriage upended Cooper’s department, with many key figures moving on. “The final few months of the calendar year were stressful for a lot of people,” she said. “We managed the process to make it as humane and transparent as possible.”

The OTT arena is mostly undefined, and Cooper appreciates having a say in the corporate strategy. “How direct-toconsumer strategy evolves is a living, breathing organism at the moment,” she said. “The great thing about working for [president and CEO] Bob Bakish, he loves hearing different voices and different points of view. I believe that, wherever we land in terms of long-term strategy, it will be with a great deal of forethought and discussion.”

Cooper cited a handful of key Viacom figures from the past as mentors in her career, including Judy McGrath, Tom Freston and Nicole Browning. “They helped me understand what it means to love what you do and have a really good time doing it,” she said. “They taught me how to manage teams and inspire people.”

Cooper keeps an open door for younger colleagues with executive ambitions.

“I’m so thankful for my mentors early on across in the business in helping me to forge my own path in the industry,” she said. “I am continuously looking to champion the next generation — my door is always open, and I’m a huge advocate in helping young professionals identify and follow their passions.”

There’s a lot to learn from the example Cooper sets, her colleagues say. “Sam brings a level of expertise to her role that is unmatched,” Viacom executive VP, general counsel and secretary Christa D’Alimonte said. “She approaches every negotiation with a deep understanding of what we want to achieve, but also a recognition of what our partners want to achieve — and she appreciates how important it is to drive value for both sides. She’s played a pivotal role in so many of our distribution relationships and deals, including the broader partnership arrangements that Viacom negotiated over the past couple of years.”

The mother of two, Cooper studies her children’s viewing patterns for a glimpse at what the future of television might look like.

“If my kids’ screen time is any indication, I think people are consuming orders of magnitude more than they were five years ago,” she said.

That includes individual screen time and

Career Highlights:

co-viewing. Regarding the latter, Cooper mentioned watching documentaries, RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Bachelor with the kids. “I don’t love The Bachelor, my teenager does,” she said. “If she wants to spend time with me, I’ll sit there and watch The Bachelor.”

Navigating carriage negotiations year-round. (“While I am always relieved when we reach an agreement, I am also proud of how I handled each of them.”)

Vino and Victuals

Launching Logo TV and achieving full distribution in record time (“I am an avid supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, so I loved being a part of the team that helped launch Logo back in 2005”).

Having a front row seat to countless cultural happenings, whether it was attending the Kids’ Choice Awards to see Katy Perry get slimed, watching Beyoncé announce her pregnancy at the VMAs or seeing a taping of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Quotable: “What assets should we license to a third party and what assets should we keep in house? It’s all part of an evolving strategy and it’s really fun to be at the front line of it and have a voice at the table.”

Watching on her own, Cooper enjoys The Real Housewives, Schitt’s Creek and Fleabag.

She and the family enjoy skiing, and Cooper sees a lot of live music — the Lumineers, Hozier and Mumford & Sons of late — with a group of women who also work in television.

She also loves hosting dinner parties at her Westchester County (New York) home.

“Good music, good wine, good lighting,” Cooper said. “Having my favorite people in my home, enjoying themselves, is my very favorite thing in the whole wide world.”

Cooper ventured to Amsterdam in late February to get to know the company’s international team. The number of SVOD clients is rapidly growing. Disney+ and Apple TV+ came to be in November, NBCU’s Peacock and HBO Max arrive this spring.

“There are a lot more relationships to build,” she said, “and a lot more content to talk about. We are hitting the ground running.” ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Nancy Daniels Chief Brand Officer, Discovery Inc., Discovery & Factual

By Paige Albiniak palbiniak@gmail.com @PaigeA

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urvivor. Big Brother. The Amazing Race. 90-Day Fiancé.

Dr. Pimple Popper. I Am Jazz.

Sister Wives. Serengheti. Gold Rush. Naked and Afraid. These shows and many, many more have come to life under the purview of Nancy Daniels, chief brand officer of Discovery & Factual.

“She’s the person you want to be in a foxhole with,” Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav said. “She is fearless and formidable: You can’t knock her down. She’s been able to do something very few people have been able to do —- build a top network for women with TLC and then turn around and build a top cable network for men.”

Said Daniels: “Moving from TLC to Discovery is a mind shift, but it was something familiar to me — the programming is familiar to me and the audience is familiar to me. I look at it as good storytelling and good content.”

While Daniels’s title of chief brand officer is a

bit of a misnomer because she’s in fact in charge of three cable networks — Discovery Channel, Science Channel and Animal Planet — she’s very much aware of how significant a strong brand is in the era of streaming TV.

Knows Brands’ Value

“She starts with what the brand is when it’s at its best,” Zaslav said. “She’s very big on doing the deep audience dive: What do viewers like about the network right now, what do they love on the network, what do they love on TV in general and what would they like more of? Then she starts thinking about how to program and schedule that.”

Even before that deep dive, Daniels knew well what she had with the gilded Discovery brand: “Any time someone says something like, ‘oh, it’s so hard to find shows and get a hit,’ or ‘we work in cable and it’s so hard’ — I say ‘we work on one of the most beloved and respected media brands there is; it is so 22

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meaningful to people.’ Do you know how hard that is to build? … Having something that already is so meaningful to people, we are so lucky.”

By leaning into the strength of that brand, Daniels has maintained Discovery’s standing as the top basic-cable network in primetime, excluding sports, among men 25-54. It also boasts the top unscripted cable series among men 25-54 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and has more top-10 unscripted cable series than any other network in both 2018 and 2019 among both men 25-54 and men 18-49.

In her first full year at Science Channel, it tied its highest-rated year ever among people 25-54 in prime and total day. It also had its highest-rated year ever among women 25-54 in prime and total day, growing 7% and 11% from last year, respectively.

That performance is something she replicated at TLC. In Daniels’s first year overseeing the network, it jumped from seventh to sixth among women 25-54 and from ninth to sixth among women 18-49 among all basic cable networks. In her last two years at the helm, it improved 12% and 14%, respectively.

Daniels accomplished that growth with programs such as the popular 90-Day Fiancé franchise and exciting live events, such as Expedition Unknown: Egypt Live, which made headlines when explorers uncovered a 2,500-year-old mummy live on television.

“I’m really proud of the turnaround at TLC,” Daniels said. “I was there for four and a half years, which is a long time for a network president, and we had a couple of really low years. And then we turned it around and right now, TLC is killing it.”

Like most successful leaders, Daniels attributes much of the success to her team: “It takes a long time to find the right people you click with.”

Some of the people Daniels clicked with she met early on and still remains close to, such as Allison Grodner, founder of Fly on the Wall Productions, which still produces Big Brother for CBS and many other unscripted series.

Daniels worked with Grodner early in her career, and when CBS came looking for a network executive, Grodner was quick to recommend Daniels, who was hired as VP of alternative series development.

“Nancy knew story, she was creative and she understood developing a show,” said Grodner, who still works on projects such as TLC’s This Is Life Live with Daniels . “I also knew she would be able to bridge that gap.

She’s thoughtful and smart in her responses

Career Highlights:

Building TLC into a top-10 cable network for women. In 2019, TLC was one of the few basic cable networks to show growth and in 2019, its popular franchise 90-Day Fiancé led the network to its best July performance ever among persons 25-54 and all key female demographics.

Quotable: “The future is barrelling at you. You can’t run from it; you have to be ready for it and do everything you can to get these networks ready for it.”

to things. She absolutely has the temperament to navigate the corporate world.”

Aced the Interview

When Jennifer Davidson and Tara Sandler of Pie Town Productions met Daniels in 1994, Sandler knew she wanted to hire her on the spot. After the interview, Sandler leaned out of her office window and called Daniels right back in to say “you’re hired!”

“Nancy did the cutest thing — she jumped up in the air and clicked her heels,” she said.

“She started out as a second producer and ended up running a show or two. She was a baby genius.”

Pie Town was significant for Daniels in more ways than one: She met her husband, Mark, a director of photography, there, and the couple has two children: Sam, 17, and Leo, 12.

Looking ahead, Daniels conceded: “It’s a super-challenging time in media in general, let alone cable, as we’re trying to figure out the future. There’s an entire generation of people who didn’t interact with Discovery Channel as we did growing up. How do we make Discovery relevant to another generation so that will live far beyond [being] a cable channel?

“The future is barrelling at you — you can’t run from it,” she said. “You have to be ready for it and do everything you can to get these networks ready for it.” ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Rosalyn Durant Senior VP, Operations, Disney Springs, ESPN Wide World of Sports and Water Parks for the Walt Disney World Resort

By Stuart Miller smiller@journalist.com @sfmsfm5186

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or Rosalyn Durant, everything changed with a summer internship. Two, actually.

She went to the University of South Carolina with dreams of becoming on-air talent. “I wanted to do what Oprah Winfrey did,” recalled Durant, who was active on local and school radio and television from 1996 through 1998. She had internships and shadowing opportunities and was a broadcast major.

Then, thanks to the T. Howard Foundation, she did a summer internship at Turner in marketing and business relations. “That changed everything,” she said.

Seeing a new world, Durant realized she would really enjoy the business side of media more. So she added a marketing minor and, thanks again to some help from the T. Howard Foundation, landed an internship

with ESPN in affiliate sales and marketing in the summer of 1998. That went well, too. So well that ESPN offered her a job in Connecticut as a coordinator in that department after she graduated.

More Than a Sports Fan

“I’m a big sports fan,” said Durant. “But I didn’t come to ESPN because I’m a big sports fan. I liked the business and the culture and wanted to be around the people. Sports was an added bonus.”

One thing about the culture that particularly struck Durant during her internship when she met leaders throughout the company “was there were people who looked like me. There were women and people of color at all levels and that was a sign I could be successful here, too,” she said.

That proved an understatement. Durant’s rise at ESPN was rapid and continuous. Within a year, she was a regional account executive.

Two years later she was a senior account execu 24

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tive. Two promotions later, in 2005, she was senior director, national accounts. Then it was time, she decided, to move on — not out of ESPN but into a new area. In 2006, she became a senior director of programming.

“I’ve often described my career as a collection of experiences,” she said. “I like new challenges and I loved understanding the different angles to ESPN because it allows me to better understand the industry.”

Durant played a significant role in the 2007 contract extension with the NBA (which included ESPN’s most-comprehensive digital rights sports league package at that time).

She became VP of programming and acquisitions in that year. Later, she became VP of college sports programming and acquisitions, overseeing college sports plus high school sports and the management of college-sports-focused ESPNU. “[Former ESPN president] George Bodenheimer talked about the importance of always being a student and that stuck with me,” said Durant, who describes herself as someone who won't be outworked. “I always want to know more, to roll up my sleeves and learn. And I don’t feel I have to have to have all the answers and I’m comfortable admitting what I don’t know.”

In 2015, she became senior VP, college networks. ESPNU and SEC Network have experienced dramatic increases, with both networks fully distributed with long-term carriage agreements at the top 10 distributors under her leadership. Last year, she oversaw the successful launch of ACC Network.

Her success doesn’t just stem from her desire to keep learning but also from her natural sense of leadership. “She provides guidance and direction but also gave me the space to grow,” said Stacie McCollum, recently named VP of programming and acquisitions, dealing with the ACC and Longhorn networks. “She is an energy giver. She exudes positivity, but in a way that’s organic and natural and it makes you want to follow her.

“She is a leader of people but also a tremendous business leader and that combination is not something you always see,” McCollum said.

Stephanie Druley, executive VP of event and studio production, agreed, saying Durant’s warm and welcoming personality “is one of her superpowers. She is able to make people feel comfortable and is great at motivating her team and pushing productions. But she is also very strategic and asks smart questions and is always thinking about what’s next.”

Career Highlights:

Rose up the ranks at ESPN for 20 years.

Played a significant role in the 2007 contract extension with the NBA. Oversaw the 2019 launch of the ACC Network.

Quotable: “I'm the first to preach the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone so I have to make sure I'm walking the walk.”

What's next for Durant is another move — this time out of ESPN. But while she is heading from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Orlando, Florida, for the new gig this month, she is staying within the corporate family. Her new role is senior VP of operations, Disney Springs, ESPN Wide World of Sports and Water Parks for the Walt Disney World Resort.

“I'm the first to preach the importance of stepping outside your comfort zone so I have to make sure I'm walking the walk,” she said.

Supporting T. Howard

Durant will continue giving back in ways no matter where she works. She is on the executive committee for the board of directors of the T. Howard Foundation, dedicated to increasing diversity in the multimedia and entertainment industry. “I’m a product of T. Howard through those internships and I believe in the mission, so I have a responsibility to pay it forward,” she said. She learned from many mentors at ESPN and is determined to do the same for the generations behind her.

“It’s important to me to share my learning, to make the people around me better. That’s part of leadership,” she said.

While there has been a lot of progress for women and people of color at ESPN and in the industry at large, there remains much work to be done, she said.

“It’s a journey. And I don’t know if you ever arrive,” Durant said. ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Mónica Gil Chief Marketing Officer and Executive VP, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises

By Kent Gibbons kent.gibbons@futurenet.com @CableKent

M

ónica Gil has several important jobs at NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Enterprises.

Not only is she chief marketing officer. She also oversees corporate affairs, social responsibility programs and government relations for the Spanish-language programmer.

Besides that, she is a key adviser to chairman Cesar Conde and was part of the management team that led the network’s move in 2018 into the new Telemundo Center in Miami, Florida, the state-of-the-art production center and headquarters called the “30 Rock of the South.”

She led branding and launch efforts for Telemundo programming that have made the network No. 1 in weekday primetime among U.S. Spanish-language networks for three consecutive seasons — a point of pride for the

former Nielsen executive who joined Telemundo in 2017.

Added to all of that, the Southern California native oversees human resources for the 1,500-employee organization. It’s in that role that she made what she considers one of her most important contributions to Telemundo: the Mujeres Imparables (Unstoppable Women) program now celebrating a one-year anniversary. The company-wide initiative is “dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in all aspects of life and championing their advancement at every level of business,” Telemundo noted.

Mentorship Moves

“When I stepped into the human resource role, I realized that a lot of women specifically were asking for ways to either [obtain] a mentorship from me or asking to set a conversation about my career, or they wanted to talk about how they can grow,” Gil said in a recent interview.

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“Many times they feel stuck in their job and they don’t know how to get out. So I like to tell them, ‘Let’s get you unstuck.’ And sometimes just because you're stuck now doesn't mean it's forever. Or sometimes maybe because you get told ‘no,’ it just means ‘not yet.’ ” Conde pointed to Unstoppable Women as one of Gil’s signature accomplishments and said it epitomized her desire to empower the next generation of Latina women and to make Telemundo stronger.

She has “an incredible eye for talent,” Conde said. “She has mentored women and men throughout her career. And I think helping identify the high-potential next generation of talent and nurturing them has been one of the biggest unwritten or unspoken contributions that she has made.”

Conde said Gil brought a unique background of marketplace data and “where the future of the demographics of the industry was going,” so when Telemundo was looking to fill the newly created executive VP role three years ago, “in my mind there was no one who understood that dynamic better than Mónica.”

At Nielsen, Gil was senior VP and general manager of multicultural, growth and strategy, advising blue-chip clients (including packaged goods and media firms) and created, developed and authored such insight reports as Latina Power Shift, about the growing influence of Hispanic women in the U.S. marketplace.

“I'm very proud of the consumer reports that we did at Nielsen, because I think that those reports have truly helped shape and inform companies about markets that were sometimes an afterthought,” Gil said when asked to cite her top career accomplishments.

(The others were Unstoppable Women and Telemundo’s successful, first-ever exclusive Spanish-language broadcast of the FIFA World Cup, in Russia in 2018.)

Susan Whiting, as vice chair of Nielsen until retiring from there in 2013, worked closely with Gil for nine years.

“When you meet Mónica, you are immediately impressed by her energy and her knowledge and her intelligence in approaching a situation,” Whiting said. “The more you get to know her, you learn about how she solves problems, how she connects people, how she works for improving an organization and its positioning. Also I think a big part of the work she’s done and her mission is to make sure that we see diversity and its opportunity in everything we do.

“She’s incredibly funny, she’s a great friend, she’s a very good mentor and she was really

Career Highlights:

Transformed Telemundo’s marketing organization and helped lead the rise to becoming the No. 1 U.S. Spanishlanguage programmer (weekday prime) for three consecutive seasons.

Helped accelerate growth opportunities for Nielsen clients as senior VP and general manager of multicultural growth and strategy, authoring studies including Latina Power Shift.

Was a senior member of Antonio Villaraigosa’s successful election campaign for mayor of Los Angeles in 2005.

Quotable: “I love being a CMO. I love the power of our audience, the beauty, the diversity of our audience. That is truly reflective of the American dream.”

really good at her job at Nielsen,” Whiting said.

Gil was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She is the youngest of 12 children in the family, and speaks with pride about her 29 nieces and nephews. “We grew up with a father who was a gardener, a mom who was a homemaker, who wanted us to work hard or work diligently and sign our name proudly. So that's always been my motto in life.”

Political Roots

Before joining Nielsen, Gil was in politics.

She was deputy press secretary for California House speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and helped him win election as mayor of Los Angeles in 2005. Earlier, she had worked in public affairs for Telemundo stations in L.A. Those jobs taught her a lot about media, she said. “Politics gave me the opportunity to see how to shape a narrative of a story and how to pick the right stories to tell.”

Having been in positions to observe and nurture growing respect for Hispanics as consumers and as individuals, she says they are in a good place now.

“I like to say there’s no better time to be Hispanic than now,” she said. “And the reason I believe that is, with 60 million Latinos in this country, Latinos are now in a position where it's not only about the population size, but any company that wants to grow I think really has to put Latinos at the forefront of the dialogue. … I think it’s an amazing moment to be Latino in this country now.” ●

WONDER WOMEN: CLASS OF 2020

Georgia Juvelis Executive VP & Co-Head Corporate Communications, AMC Networks

By Holly Stuart Hughes holshughes@gmail.com @HollyStuartHug1

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hen Georgia Juvelis began working for AMC Networks in fall of 2007, Mad Men had just debuted on AMC, and she got a sneak peek at the first episode of Breaking Bad. She remembers thinking it was a “thrilling” time to join the company.

She could not guess how many more changes were in store both for her and for AMC, which went public in 2011 and expanded internationally in 2014. As executive VP and co-head of corporate communications, Juvelis has handled the financial reporting on a number of the company’s biggest changes.

These include its 2018 acquisition of RLJ Entertainment, which added the streaming service Acorn TV to AMC’s portfolio, and the recent reorganization of the AMC Networks Entertainment Group under president Sarah Barnett.

Her colleagues praise not only her skill in distilling a clear message to shareholders, the business press and employees about the company’s decisions, but also her role as a sounding board when key decisions have been made.

“Georgia is a natural strategic thinker,” said AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan, describing her approach to communications as “highly considered” rather than “reactive.”

“She thinks about the communications impact, but she also thinks about the business impact and the impact on all constituents of what’s going on in the company,” he said.

Ask Challenging Questions

To Juvelis, a corporate communications team’s most valuable function is to ask challenging questions. “Because we’re the proxies for the press in the company, you can’t be afraid to have a point of view and express it.” She said she’s fortunate to work with leaders who value input: “Otherwise 28

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you’re just an empty mouthpiece, I think.”

AMC Networks Entertainment president Barnett said Juvelis’s “straight-talking, very honest” perspective inspires loyalty from those around her. “She seems egoless,” Barnett explained. “It’s so clear her motivation is always about putting the company first.”

Juvelis’s career rise parallels what she sees as a growing recognition that corporate communication is “fundamental to business strategy.”

She started out at Discovery handling program publicity. She next launched her own company, working with such clients as Hearst Communications and PBS. As communications VP for Gemstar-TV Guide International, she oversaw media relations, talent relations and publicity, as well as corporate communications.

Juvelis began working as a consultant to AMC shortly after she and her husband had spent a year traveling the world. “We call it our mid-30s gap year,” she said.

After only a few months of consulting, AMC chief communications officer Ellen Kroner invited her to join the staff. Juvelis was excited, but explained to Kroner that she was pregnant, and would soon go on maternity leave.

Kroner “didn’t even blink,” Juvelis said.

She was impressed by Kroner’s trust in a new hire, which she models in her own management style. “I like to hire people with similar values and standards of quality and then just let them go, because that’s how I like to work,” she said.

When Kroner retired in 2016, Juvelis and Jim Maiella were promoted to co-heads of communications. “Co-heads” can sometimes be rivals, but Juvelis said she and Maiella “value having a peer and close confidante who we can really trust and rely on.” Sapan observed that Maiella and Juvelis “share tasks and goals without selfishness.”

Their primary task, Juvelis said, is creating a cogent message about how seemingly disparate parts of the company support its strategic goals.

“I think I’m able to step back and establish that narrative thread,” Juvelis said. Telling a compelling story requires “an appreciation of what the world is talking about and what it cares about so you can understand: Where do we fit into it?” It also requires knowledge of an increasingly complex, global organization, she said.

Juvelis’s ability to inspire trust allows her to build relationships across varied departments. In the past year and a half, Juvelis has guided several internal communications initiatives, including a revamped employee intranet and “TALKS@AMC Networks”

Career Highlights:

Overseeing internal and external communication and marketing efforts for the strategic acquisition of RLJ Entertainment and AMC’s direct-toconsumer strategy

Quotable: “Relationship building is as critically important as always.

While it’s easier to have virtual relationships, taking time for faceto-face conversation is important.”

featuring department heads and industry leaders.

Approach to Mentoring

Juvelis has mentored women through the WICT New York Executive Mentoring Program and the Women’s ERG at AMC Networks and MentorUp programs, but added: “I also hope I’ve done a fair amount of informal mentoring.” Essential to that, she said, is helping people build a network of supporters. “You only do well if people around you want you to do well.”

Her mentoring is similar to her work in communications: People seek her out to get a clear-eyed perspective. “She’s the ideal person to stress test an idea with,” Barnett said. “She’s very good at bringing out the best in others.”

Stepping back to find the narrative thread of her 12 years with AMC Networks, Juvelis noted, “I think I can get bored easily, so I’ve been well suited to navigating a lot of change.”

For all the change she has been a part of, Juvelis said her most important accomplishment has been spotlighting the original programming and films that drew her to AMC in the first place.

“In a small way, the work we’ve done has launched conversations on important topics, driven the cultural conversation and shifted minds,” she said. “To be a part of that has been a huge highlight.” ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Jennifer Koester Director of Telco & Video Distribution Partnerships, Google

By Jon Lafayette jon.lafayette@futurenet.com @jlafayette

C

olleagues and clients say that Jennifer Koester, director of telco & video distribution partnerships at Google, gets things done.

Kristin Dolan, former chief operating officer of Cablevision Systems, recalled when Koester was an attorney at Cablevision, working on early advanced ad products, including addressable advertising.

“She’s super-smart and she’s very confident,” Dolan said. “She’s really good at getting people to understand what you’re trying to do and buy in.”

Before Koester joined the cable company, Cablevision had been a client of the law firm where Koester worked. She’d initially been interested in fashion and design, but what she called her “practical side” kicked in, and she went to law school. That and an inability to draw.

At the firm, she was at the intersection of technology and law, writing some of the first online privacy policies and the first advertising guidelines for Google.

She decided to move to Cablevision. At first, she focused on programming deals, but moved on to advertising. “I took a pivot in my career and left the legal side of things and went to the business side,” Koester said. “It was probably one of the best decisions I made in my career and it has paid off in spades.”

“Because of her understanding of the space and the products we were selling, she really helped move that business forward,” said Dolan, who said she’d like to lure Koester to her current business, the measurement and analytics company 605.

“I always thought, and I still do, she was a very effective and pragmatic, get-it-done lawyer,” said Spectrum Reach president David Kline, formerly president of Cablevision Media Sales.

When Kline moved on to VisibleWorld, he was one of Koester’s vendors. Now, at Spectrum Reach, he’s a client. “She comes back constantly with creative ideas and ways we can work together,” Kline said.

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“She takes things as a challenge when she hears ‘no,’ ” said Kline. “Like any good sales person, when the customer says no, that’s when the real sales start. Right now, we’re working with her on a project that could bear fruit, and it’s because of her persistence over the years.”

Koester said she’s a believer in treating everyone with respect even during tough negotiations. That included when, while still at Cablevision, she was negotiating with Google for digital ad technology. “My negotiations with Google were really difficult because this was a first of a kind deal,” she recalled. “Those negotiations turned out essentially to be the first round of interviews, because not so long after that, they recruited me.”

Koester’s knowledge of the telecommunications industry made her attractive to Google, said Bonita Stewart, VP of global partnerships.

“Her experience from a legal and regulatory perspective made her appealing to us, combined with her customer relationship skills,” Stewart said. In terms of technology, “she’s been here only four years, but you wouldn’t know it in terms of her fluency with our products.”

Koester is in charge of Google’s cable and telecom vertical, working with clients including T-Mobile, Roku, Dish Network, Verizon Communications, AT&T and Comcast.

“She has such an intuitive view of the industry. I mean she is always several steps ahead,” Stewart said. “She’s a self-starter and a self-learner. But most importantly she has the ability to just get things done.”

Koester sees her role as helping the industry navigate a technological transition with products that enable addressable TV and other revenue generators. “One of the most exciting parts of my job is Google has made a decision to invest in the future of TV,” she said.

Koester has also taken a role in promoting and mentoring women at Google in the technology business. She serves on Google’s global hiring committee. “She is leading from the front in terms of now being firmly entrenched in a technology company and makes sure there are a number of women that are behind her and on her team doing different things,” said Stewart.

“She’s very focused on mentorship and bringing other women up along with her,” adds Dolan. “She always takes the opportunity to look for people to mentor. She really helps bring them along, male and female, but she definitely does a lot to help further the women in the industry particularly now that she’s an ad tech and tech overall.”

Koester said she’s been fortunate to have worked for some very powerful, influential and successful women during her career, including Dolan and Stewart.

Career Highlights:

Joined Google in 2016 to lead the Telco and Video Distributor vertical for Google's Global Partnerships, working with clients including T-Mobile, Roku, Dish, Verizon, AT&T and Comcast.

Was recruited from Cablevision Systems after leading affiliate negotiations with Google.

Spent 11 years at Cablevision, developing linear TV, VOD, digital and data products to generate growth opportunities for the company’s advertising sales force.

Started at Cablevision as an attorney after working as an associate at three different law firms.

Quotable: “One of the most exciting parts of my job is Google has made a decision to invest in the future of TV.”

“I have never seen anything as powerful as the network of women at Google,” she said, with initiatives and programs designed to invest in the company’s female talent and talent in all under-represented groups. She also formed a relationship between Google and Women in Cable & Telecommunications.

Mentorship a Priority

“As a leader, I think you have to be committed to lift your team and mentorship is clearly a part of that,” she said. “There’s a couple of women that aren’t on my team that come to me. I think receiving candid feedback helps people develop and in giving them stretch opportunities that provide that organizational impact and visibility.”

Outside of work, Koester said she focuses on her family, with her and her husband supporting their son, a freshman pitcher at George Washington, and their daughter, who plays volleyball. Sports helps the kids learn team dynamics, leadership and dealing with defeat, “all skills that will truly benefit them when they enter the workforce and life in general,” she said, adding that as a kid she was in the math league.

Current interests include gardening, cooking, skiing and decorating. “One of my little hobbies is putting some eclectic things together and kind of redecorating every couple of months,” she said. ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Jeanine Liburd Chief Social Impact and Communications Officer, BET Networks

I

By R. Thomas Umstead thomas.umstead@futurenet.com @rtumstead30

n February, BET Networks rallied such prominent national organizations as the National Urban League, Color of Change and the Legal Defense Fund to coalesce around a new social change campaign, #ReclaimYourVote, in an effort to help increase African-American participation in the 2020 Census and election.

Leading the charge around the groundbreaking effort is BET Networks’s chief social impact and communications officer, Jeanine Liburd.

Her impressive background as a public policy administrator and media communications executive has paid dividends for the programmer, in front of the camera and within its targeted African-American community.

“Jeanine’s unique background and experiences are a tremendous asset to our brand, and she serves as an inspiration to so many other women — and men — within our BET family,” BET Networks president Scott Mills said.

The Brooklyn, New York, native said that growing up she wanted to pursue a career in

acting. She turned her sights to urban studies while earning a bachelor of arts degree in the discipline at Vassar College, with a stop at Atlanta’s Spelman College for her junior year.

Started in Politics

After college, Liburd took aim at developing a career in politics and public policy. “I wanted to be mayor of New York,” she said. “Coming out of college, I knew I wanted to work and further my education in public policy, so I earned my masters from the New School University for Social Research in their public policy program, where I worked for the City of New York.”

In 1995, Liburd would take her leadership skills to Washington, D.C., where she worked for the Department of Health and Human Services. In 1996 she joined the White House as a policy analyst in the Clinton administration. During her time there, she began to work with the administration’s press team to get coverage of policy issues.

“I began to understand the power of news, TV and the power of partnerships with media entities,” she said.

Liburd moved back to New York in 1997 to hone her media skills working for strategic communications firm Robinson, Lerer & Montgomery. As part of her stint there, she would work closely with then-upstart women’s network Oxygen. Working with female executives such as Geraldine Laybourne, Liburd said she learned life lessons that would serve her well in her future endeavors.

“I learned that you don’t have to be mean or aggressive to be successful, effective or strong,” she said. “You can be a passionate leader and lead with compassion.”

In 2000, Liburd transitioned to MTV Networks as VP of corporate communications, handling public-relations duties for such emerging networks as Nickelodeon, VH1 and MTV. Unlike at Oxygen, where she worked more on the content side, Liburd said she learned the corporate component of the entertainment industry at MTV. “On the corporate level, you have a chance to see things from a different perspective,” she said. “While you didn’t have the openness in the same way that you do when you’re deep into the brand, I did have the flexibility of digging into a brand when there was an issue.”

There were many issues to deal with during cable’s growing years, particularly on the distribution side. Liburd recalls one dustup in the mid-2000s with satellite service Dish Network, which eventually dropped the MTV Networks suite of services. “When [Dish chairman Charlie Ergen] pulled the plug, I learned so much in the process about the strategy around communications with the affiliates and the consumers,” she said. “I hadn’t had that experience, and I realized that there was still so much of the business that I had to learn. No day was like the previous day.”

As part of the Viacom corporate media team, one executive who Liburd would regularly come into contact with was Debra Lee, BET Networks CEO. Lee eventually approached Liburd about working for the African-American targeted network.

Initially, Liburd said, she was apprehensive about going back to working for a single brand after her years in corporate communications. But Lee presented a vision for the network — including an expansion into scripted content on-screen and more social outreach into the African-American community behind the scenes — that matched Liburd’s career aspirations, she said.

Under the leadership of Lee and Liburd, BET

Career Highlights:

Liburd began her BET Networks career as chief marketing and communications officer before advancing to chief social impact and communications officer.

She also served as an executive with Viacom Corporate Communications and MTV Networks.

Prior to her entertainment career, Liburd worked on local and national urban and family policy at the local and national levels. She held positions in New York City’s Department of General Services under Mayor David Dinkins, and with the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House under President Bill Clinton.

Quotable: “Every relationship is an important one so treat it as such, and always take the time to think of the other person’s perspective. It’s not always about you.”

built upon what was already arguably the most popular African-American entertainment brand, transitioning what was a music video-dominated network into an outlet that presented successful scripted series such as The Game and Being Mary Jane, as well as news and entertainment content.

BET’s Mills said Liburd’s tenure is synonymous with the network’s overall success.

“Jeanine’s leadership and drive have been a pillar of BET’s success over the past two decades of entertaining, engaging and empowering black communities,” he said.

Social Leadership

Liburd has been able to extend BET’s brand beyond TV into becoming a true social leader within the African-American community.

She cited a saying from former MTV Networks chairman and CEO Judy McGrath: How can we use our superpowers for good?

“We have this great platform and we would be remiss if we’re not ramping up the work that we’ve always done, but to do it in a much more intentional and purposeful way,” Liburd said.

The married mother of two teenagers is enjoying the opportunity to make a difference with her talents through the BET brand.

“To take the first portion of my career in terms of the public policy piece, and to match it with the entertainment piece and the utilization of our big platform is really the perfect place for me to be,” she said. ●

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WONDER WOMEN 2020

Tina Perry President, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

By Paige Albiniak palbiniak@gmail.com @PaigeA

W

ith degrees from Stanford, Oxford and Harvard, Tina Perry is one of those people who was already incredibly accomplished before she ever entered the workforce.

While she always knew she wanted to work in the entertainment industry, Perry took a practical approach to it. “I knew, long-term, the business of entertainment was where my passion was, but the law was a great path for me to learn about the business,” she said.

“Before I went to law school, I was torn between going into law and business school. I met some people who worked in the entertainment industry and they gave me some great advice: the truth about the entertainment industry is that it’s one big negotiation.”

Perry took that advice to heart and got her JD from Harvard Law School. From there, she went straight to a law firm, New York-based Cravath, Swaine & Moore. While working there, she represented public companies in

basic cable network, OWN, as VP of business and legal affairs.

“I knew I wanted to be more entrepreneurial in my career, to be an integral part of a business that was growing and evolving,” Perry said. “The chance to work with Oprah and her brand was so enticing. I don’t think I ever thought I would have an opportunity to work with Oprah or her brand, just because it was such a rarified experience. There are not many people who have a brand like hers that’s so clean, so defined and that has touched so many. Working for and with Oprah has been bigger than a dream come true for me.”

Even then, though, Perry knew that she had bigger goals in mind than leading negotiations for OWN. “I knew that I wanted to be the general manager of some sort of entertainment business, to run a P&L and help a larger business generate revenue and be successful,” she recalled.

After about six years at OWN, Perry joined its board of directors, which allowed her to get even closer to the business of running the network. “The scope of my work running business and legal affairs broadened and I started overseeing standards and practices and risk assessment. I also started working with peers and partners on other parts of the business,” she said.

Connecting With the C-Suite

connection with public offerings, private placements and general corporate governance matters.

“Choosing to practice corporate law paid off 100%,” Perry said. “I really started to understand big business and how to read balance sheets. The exposure to business helped me. It gave me a great foundation for how the whole ecosystem of how the entertainment industry works.”

It was after Cravath that she made her move into entertainment. She was hired to work in business and legal affairs for Viacom-owned MTV and VH1, and she relocated from New York to Los Angeles.

“It took four or five years for me to find my tribe in L.A.,” Perry said. “In the early years, instead of being lonely, I immersed myself in experiences and hobbies that have really paid off for me. I missed New York, but it has been great for my career to be in Los Angeles.”

In 2009, she joined Oprah Winfrey’s nascent 3 32

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Making those connections and getting that exposure paid off and, in January 2019, Perry was named president of OWN. In the past year, OWN has had five series land in the top 10 among African-American viewers, had the top four original scripted cable series among African-American women aged 18 and over and had five of the top 30 original scripted series on ad-supported cable among women 25-54. Those include such shows as Greenleaf and Queen Sugar and, in the past year, the network has begun airing original holiday movies also targeting its core female AfricanAmerican audience.

“OWN is core for us at Discovery,” said David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Inc., which co-founded the network with Winfrey. “We’re about quality brands that tell great stories. Most of last year, we were the No. 1 media company in America for women with such networks as HGTV, ID, TLC, Food Network and OWN. A big piece of that was the success Oprah and Tina had at OWN. It’s a huge source of pride for us that we are creating content at OWN that is really having an impact in the African-American community.”

OWN specifically seeks out African-American creators such as Ava DuVernay (Cherish the Day), Tyler Perry (The Haves and the Have Nots) and Tarell Alvin McCraney (David Makes Man).

Career Highlights:

Joining OWN as one of its first employees in 2009 before the network even launched in 2011 and then rising to become president of the network in January 2019.

Quotable: “Working

for and with Oprah has been bigger than a dream come true for me.”

“Working with Tina Perry is like working with a generous and beautiful mind,” McCraney said. “I can’t think of a better person who deserves this recognition.”

McCraney et al. are part of OWN’s overall vision for itself, which has evolved since the network first launched in 2011.

“Oprah absolutely loves working with storytellers who have a strong voice and a specific point of view,” Perry said. “We have had the ability to attract some of today’s best talent, people who are interested in telling stories to our audience in new and engaging manners. The chance to work with Oprah and collaborate with her on creating series that are going to reach large audiences is a huge attractive element of who we are. It’s becoming part of our ethos.

“Our brand promise is ‘see yourself’ and whether she’s watching scripted, unscripted or Super Soul, our viewer comes to watch our programming and to see herself, her life and her history reflected in our storytelling,” Perry said.

Looking ahead, OWN is working toward what’s next in terms of streaming: “We’re part of the Discovery family,” Perry said. “Discovery has really great plans to go over the top, and we’ll be part of those plans. We know from our numbers and our engagement metrics that viewers want to receive our content that way, and we want to reach younger viewers. We are looking forward to a day soon when we will be offered that way.” ●

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Stephanie Plasse SVP and Deputy General Counsel, Global Revenue, Partnerships and Distribution, A+E Networks

By Stuart Miller smiller@journalist.com @sfmsfm5186

S

tephanie Plasse thought law school would be a good background for a career in journalism: She would focus on public policy, legal journalism and First Amendment issues. It made sense, since journalism was her first love. She was on the newspaper in both high school and college (which is something of an understatement, as she was the editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News).

Things didn’t go quite as planned. After graduating from Stanford Law School, Plasse began working in corporate law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. And yet, she sees a direct link between journalism, law school, corporate law and her current job as senior VP and deputy general counsel, global revenue, partnerships and distribution, at A+E Networks.

“At law school, I became interested in telecommunications policy and shifted my focus to the media entertainment business,”

Plasse recalled. “Then I went into corporate law because it’s a great training ground, you get a lot of resources and learn a lot. That corporate skill set was valuable later in drafting, negotiating and research.”

Plasse soon moved into entertainment law at Greenberg Traurig, but ultimately decided she wanted to be on the inside, making decisions. “At a law firm, it’s about offering alternatives and it’s more of an academic exercise,” she said. “I wanted to be part of the stakeholders.”

An Unemotional Negotiator

She jumped to HBO, where she became VP of networks business and legal affairs, learning crucial lessons from a mentor there, veteran counsel Tom Woodbury. “He impressed on me the importance in negotiation of the force of intellectual argument, of explaining what our needs are in a way that’s thoughtful, not confrontational,” Plasse said.

Using the facts that way “builds integrity and takes emotions out of negotiations,” allowing for a stronger relationship with partners, which, “in a positive cycle, then makes it easier in the next negotiation to stay focused on the facts.”

Those skills have served Plasse extremely well at A+E, where she oversees legal support of global distribution, digital, over-the-top, subscription and ad-supported video-ondemand, international, corporate, corporate development, technology, music and consumer products deals, as well as regulatory affairs.

“Negotiations can get heated, but she is phenomenal at communication and is very creative at finding ways to make things work,” A+E president of distribution David Zagin said. When Plasse handled her first large negotiation for the company, he said, she was so impressive that the celebratory dinner that night “became one person after another toasting her.”

“She has impressive command of a complex area, but one of her secret weapons is that she is humble, so people trust her and respond positively to her suggestions,” A+E chief legal officer Henry Hoberman said. “So when things get bogged down, she can find the path forward.”

Plasse jumped to A+E from HBO because she liked that it had great programs and content innovation but also offered the challenge of ad-supported networks and a wide portfolio of brands. She provides legal and strategic support for U.S., Canadian and Caribbean distribution of 10 networks, including A&E, History and Lifetime, and oversees legal aspects of partnerships and content licensing related to those networks on all global platforms.

“I also love the culture here,” she said. “I have a team of talented problem-solvers and I'm always learning from them.”

Learning is central to her success in a field that is constantly changing with new technologies, distribution avenues and business models. “I’m very interested in learning how things work and understanding the details,” Plasse said. “I’m pretty adaptable and open to trying things in new ways.”

Plasse describes herself as neither an early adopter of new technologies nor a Luddite, which makes her a “good proxy for our customers,” adding that having twin 8-year-old sons tends to keep her aware of major trends. “I found out about Fortnite a year before most people.”

Lawyers are trained to manage risk, Plasse

Career Highlights:

Plasse helped lead the negotiations for the transition of the H2 linear network to Viceland with distributors in the U.S. and Caribbean.

She launched the A+E portfolio across vMVPDs including Sling, Hulu Live, Philo and Fubo.

Helped strike A+E portfolio library deals with streaming platforms such as Netflix and Peacock.

Led the launch new digital products H Vault, Lifetime Movie Club, Crime Central and Lively Place.

Quotable: “All experiences are personal but with mentoring people can realize that others are having variations of the same experience, facing similar dilemmas and challenges. Mentoring is a great opportunity to have a safe place to discuss issues like leadership and work-life integration and that elusive balance.”

said, and therefore sometimes get too comfortable with doing things the way they’ve always been done.

Keeps an Open Mind

“I keep an open mind so I don't get stuck in the ways of the past,” Plasse said. “Then, we work with stakeholders to collaborate and break new ground.”

Plasse went through the Women in Cable Telecommunications Betsy Magness Leadership Institute in 2012-2013 and has been an active leader at A+E. She serves as a mentor both within the legal and business affairs department and beyond, and was instrumental in forming a new internal mentoring program (Spark) to identify and retain high potential mid-management females by pairing them with senior executives who completed the Betsy Magness program. Her commitment led to Plasse being selected to join The Executive Women’s Forum at A+E Networks, a mentorship program comprised of senior executives under the oversight of Abbe Raven, chairman emeritus and former CEO of A+E Networks.

“I’ve been more of a recipient than a giver at this company when it comes to mentors,” Plasse said. “This company has great role models and leaders and a supportive environment for women. I participate to have the opportunity to pay that forward. I hope I’m having an impact.” ●

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WONDER WOMEN 2020

Women to Watch Emerging executives to keep an eye on

VICTORIA BIELER Head of Broadcast and Retrans Content Strategy and Partnerships Verizon Consumer Group

JOHNITA DUE Senior VP and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer WarnerMedia News and Sports

LIBBY GEIST VP & Executive Producer ESPN Films and Original Content

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Victoria Bieler is the principal

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Based in CNN’s

development, production, distribution, branding and strategy for all projects under the ESPN Films umbrella, as well as original series and studio shows on ESPN+, ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. Projects under Geist include the acclaimed 30 for 30 series, Detail and the 30 for 30 Podcasts.

Geist, a three-time Peabody Award winner, has spent her entire career in documentary film, from production to development and now as an executive producer. She continues to push ESPN’s storytelling to new heights as one of the company’s leaders in long-form. Geist lives in New York with her husband and two little boys.

negotiator for all partnerships with national broadcast/ cable portfolios and broadcast affiliates. She works with external and internal partners to establish new business opportunities across Verizon’s Consumer, Business and Media Groups. Earlier, she was on Viacom’s content distribution team and was an equity research analyst at Credit Suisse. She lives in New York with husband Sam.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “The variety. The Consumer Content and Partnerships team is charged with connecting customers with the choice of content and experiences they love on the best network. That means thinking about how our customers consume content and working cross-functionally to deliver those best-in-class outcomes.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “Admittedly, working through the winter holidays and on New Year’s Eve. It’s part of the job, but I’m selfishly hopeful that one day, the holidays for my team and me will be for spending lots of time with family and friends, not negotiating. At least, not negotiating for work.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “I am very lucky to be in a group …

with world-class leaders in my direct reporting chain.

There is so much to learn from [Verizon Consumer Group EVP and CEO] Ronan Dunne and [Verizon Wireless SVP, consumer marketing and products] Frank Boulben. Most importantly, I have an opportunity to be mentored by my boss, [head of content strategy, acquisition and promotion] Erin McPherson, on a daily basis. She is a visionary in the content space and a dynamic leader.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Someone once told me ‘it’s all about the people’ in assessing a new job, hiring a new employee, or in your personal life. The people you spend your time with have the biggest impact on your satisfaction, be it job-related or personal.”

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headquarters in Atlanta, Johnita Due reports to Jeff Zucker, chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports and president, CNN Worldwide. Previously, she served as VP and assistant general counsel of CNN, joining in 2003. From 2005-2013, Due served as CNN’s chief diversity adviser and chaired its award-winning Diversity Council. Prior to joining CNN, Due was associate general counsel for The McGraw-Hill Cos. Due earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Sussex in England and her law degree from Cornell Law School.

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Libby Geist oversees

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “I most enjoy that I have

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “I know how lucky I am to love my job. I work with some of the best storytellers in the world, produce projects that get attention and accolades and I oversee a brand that I’m incredibly proud of.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “I know that many of our efforts, which focus on diversity behind the scenes and creating a culture of internal mobility and advancement, will take time to be impactful and will not be immediately demonstrable or apparent to all employees. The challenge is to retain the confidence of staff that we all are doing what we can to make a difference in this area even if the results are not as immediately noticeable as our on air diversity efforts.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “Working at a big company

the opportunity to collaborate with teams and departments across the organization, from HR and recruiting to marketing and PR to research and sales to editorial and programming.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “My late mother, Patricia Stephens Due, was a huge influence on me. She led the first jail-in of the nation during the Civil Rights Movement as a 20-year old college student at FAMU in Tallahassee.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Something that I

often tell employees that I was told once was that when you leave a job, make sure you are running toward something and not running away from something.”

can mean lots of meetings. It is easy to get stuck on that treadmill, so I make every effort to prioritize the work that my team is doing and to keep us focused on the creative side of things.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “I have worked under

[ESPN executive VP, content] Connor Schell for more than 10 years and have learned so much from him every step of the way. I feel as though I’ve grown up at ESPN and he has played a major role in charting my path.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Leaders are thermostats, not thermometers! Creating a positive, creative environment fosters a happy team and better work. No matter what might go wrong, picking up and reminding the team that we can do anything together is the kind of leader I want to be.”

WONDER WOMEN 2020

DIANA HOROWITZ VP, U.S. Sales East Telestream

AUDREY LEE Executive VP and General Counsel Starz

DANIELLE MULLIN Senior VP, Marketing Crown Media Family Networks

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Diana Horowitz leads the sales

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Based in Santa Monica,

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Danielle Mullin leads all

team and oversees all of Telestream’s business and customer relationships in the strategically important U.S. East region. She comes to the digital video system provider with an extensive media background.

Previously, she was regional director for media and entertainment at Tavant; executive director of sales for IBM Watson Media; global client director and director of VOD sales at Comcast Technology Solutions; and led digital advertising sales in the Northeast at Scripps Networks Interactive (now Discovery) for Food Network and Cooking Channel. She started her career at The New York Times Co., holding ad-sales leadership roles in both New York and Paris. She originally hails from Manhattan, where she resides with her husband, Alain.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “I love the media business, and this role allows me to stay connected with the people and companies driving the industry forward — and partnering together with them to find solutions for their challenges and innovate for the future.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “I am fortunate in loving all

aspects of my role — leading a team, partnering with customers, working with cross-functional teams to develop strategy. If anything I would just add a few more hours to every day to get everything done!”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “I like to say that I ‘grew up’ at The

New York Times, and I learned so much from the amazing leaders who I had the privilege to work with there. To this I would add the amazing ad sales leadership at Scripps Networks Interactive (now at Discovery), who taught me everything I know about television!”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “From my Dad: To

treat everyone you interact with, regardless of their job title, with respect, courtesy and integrity, in business as in life.”

California, Audrey Lee is responsible for developing the strategic direction of business and legal affairs for Starz, including distribution, content acquisition, production, litigation, employment matters and legal and regulatory compliance worldwide. She has more than 20 years of legal and business experience, with a background in M&A and corporate transactions, deep entertainment knowledge and a thorough understanding of international business issues. Lee most recently was executive VP and deputy general counsel for Lionsgate, where she supported senior management on M&A and film financing activities and overseeing legal affairs for Lionsgate’s subscription VOD channels, digital studios division, location-based entertainment, merchandising and gaming businesses. She was also senior VP, legal affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment. She began her career at Latham & Watkins LLP, where she focused on mergers and acquisitions, securities and intellectual property licensing.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “The people at Starz and

marketing campaigns and strategic brand development for Crown Media’s portfolio of businesses, including Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama; subscription VOD service Hallmark Movies Now; Hallmark Publishing and the podcast Hallmark Channels Bubbly Sesh. Since joining the company in 2017, Mullin has delivered compelling, high-impact campaigns and was quickly elevated from VP, consumer marketing to senior VP, marketing. Mullin joined Crown Media from WGN America and was VP of marketing for Freeform. She earned a master's degree in creative writing from Emerson College and a bachelor of arts in English and psychology from Boston College.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “I am a true fan of the Hallmark brand. It’s a pleasure to work on marketing content that makes people feel good, especially during times like these when there is a lot of divisiveness and negativity in the world.”

creative way to get to yes.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “I’m constantly challenged to keep up with the evolving media landscape and advanced targeting capabilities, but I love the fact that there is something new to learn nearly every day.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “My parents. They immigrated

BIGGEST MENTORS: “I’ve had a variety of mentors

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Always keep learning new things and taking on new responsibilities and be nice to people while you’re doing it.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “The best advice I’ve ever received came from my Dad — find something you love to do and find a way to make a difference in the world. If you can find a career that checks both boxes, you’ll be good!”

the variety of the work.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “When I can’t find a

here from China before I was born, with no money, no job and without speaking the language. With a lot of hard work and determination, they made a life for their family, sent three kids to college and my dad became one of the most senior scientists at Boeing, leading the design of the electrical system for the space station before he retired.”

throughout my career both in the entertainment industry and in areas completely removed from television. I have always appreciated the advice and guidance I have received and try to pay it forward by mentoring those just entering the field.”

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WONDER WOMEN 2020

Women to Watch Emerging excutives to keep an eye on

LAUREN PETTERSON President Fox Business

MARCELLA MILLIET SCIORRA Partner, Strategic Marketing Sciorra Media Group

NANCY SMITH President & CEO Analytic Partners

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Lauren Petterson

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: For more than 20 years,

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: For nearly 20 years, Nancy

joined Fox News Channel in 2008 and since September 2019 has been president of Fox Business, in addition to overseeing talent development for both Fox News and Fox Business. Prior to her promotion, she was senior VP of morning programming and talent development for Fox News, where she oversaw the entire Fox & Friends weekday and weekend franchise. Fox & Friends has been the No. 1 morning program in cable news for more than 17 years. Petterson also has been an executive producer of news programming at WCBS New York and WPIX New York. She began her television career at WNYT Albany, New York, and later became an associate producer at News 12 Long Island and a production assistant/associate producer for WNBC’s signature afternoon program Live at Five. She is a magna cum laude graduate of SUNY Albany with a bachelor of arts degree in communications.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “The viewers. I

Marcella Milliet Sciorra has held leadership roles at media and advertising companies. Most recently, she was VP of ad sales and product marketing at Spectrum Reach, a division of Charter Communications.

Previously, she was senior marketing director in the distribution group at NBCUniversal and group account director at Colangelo-SM. As principal of Sciorra Media Group, she is a strategic adviser to video entertainment and advanced advertising companies. Originally from Brazil, Sciorra holds a bachelor's from the University of Santa Ursula and from Hunter College in New York. She lives in Palisades, New York, with her husband Nick, son Oliver and daughter (and newly licensed driver) Julia.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “I love how our industry is

always changing — always evolving. I’ve had a chance to bring several complex and simple ideas to life, revolutionizing the way we do business, throughout my career.

Specifically as a leader, what I like most about my job is building high-performance teams, nurturing and growing talent and building an inclusive culture.”

consider it a privilege to communicate what we know. And I love that the viewers want to share that learning. It’s consequential and humbling at the same time.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “The least favorite part of my job in corporate America has been the fact that pace of change is not fast enough; it’s very difficult to be nimble.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “Long meetings that can

BIGGEST MENTORS: “Margo Vallone was my boss in

be replaced by a short phone call.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “My mother. She’s a single mom who raised four kids while working three jobs. She taught me to do the hard work. To say yes to the scary stuff. And to know your worth.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “When you’ve done

well and moved on, do not shut the door behind you. Make sure you reach back to give others a chance to succeed.”

two different jobs at the beginning of my career: Alcone Marketing Group & GEM Group. She saw potential in me before I was even aware of it.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Invest in your team — talent is your most valuable resource. Build an inclusive culture, encourage diversity of thoughts, gender, ethnicity and beliefs. Foster learning opportunities for your team. Encourage them to take risks, celebrating failures and wins. Be generous with your time and knowledge. Provide timely, honest and actionable feedback.”

Smith used customized analytics and data to build a stronger business case and drive increased return on investment (ROI). In 2000, she founded Analytic Partners to further the use of data to drive planning and business intelligence. Prior to starting AP, she worked at ASI (now Ipsos ASI) and Clairol (now Procter & Gamble), where she managed marketing insights projects, teams and vendors. She has an MBA from the University at Buffalo School of Management.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “I love working with highly

motivated and dedicated people. The marketplace is so dynamic, fast-moving and diverse, and that makes business challenging and exciting. I find that the best qualities of people really shine through when dynamic business ecosystems create opportunities for individuals and teams to stretch and strengthen their capabilities.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “Anything overly bureaucratic: Slowdowns for paperwork, office lease negotiations, flying to China to get my photo taken with a bank manager in order to open a business bank account. (Yes, that really happened!).”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “My most memorable mentor was my first boss in the field of analytics, George Williams. George was respectfully called ‘The Wizard’ by his colleagues for his mastery of numbers, his memory and his statistical prowess. In addition to sharing with me his accumulated wisdom from decades of business analytics experience, George taught me much about managing people.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Don’t focus on money, titles and promotions. Focus on doing satisfying work, and doing it better than everyone else. Money, titles and promotions will naturally flow from doing satisfying work really well.”

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38

WONDER WOMEN 2020

Women to Watch Emerging excutives to keep an eye on

JULIE STERLING Director of Media & Entertainment Partnerships, Google

RANDI STIPES Chief Marketing Officer IBM Watson Media and Weather

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Julie Sterling is responsible for

WHY WE’RE WATCHING: Randi Stipes oversees

Google’s largest video and programmatic partnerships.

She and her team work with top media companies to provide innovative solutions that deliver revenue growth using the Ad Manager suite. She also facilitates cross-functional partner alignment with other product areas including Google Play, Cloud, Android, YouTube and more. Previously, she managed Google’s Automotive and CPG team as well as strategic partnerships for Google Ad Manager across multiple verticals. Before that, Sterling worked for Kantar Media. She earned a bachelor’s degree in international business from Rochester Institute of Technology and lives in South Orange, New Jersey, with her wife and two sons.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “There’s a number of

reasons I love my job, but it all comes down to the people I work with, the companies I partner with and the technology we create at Google. As a leader within Google, I feel honored to be given the opportunity to build teams, coach and mentor.”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “Partners and their busi-

nesses are all changing very fast and I think most would agree it’s the most significant transformation that the media and entertainment industry has gone through in recent history. Many partners are using this change as an opportunity to grow and adapt their business with the future in mind, but seeing the human impact when there is so much uncertainty has been hard.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “Mentors in my life started with

my family and I’m grateful for my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and now my wife Beth who have all taught me the importance of hard work, treating people with respect, and having a strong sense of faith.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “ ‘Don’t just point out issues, make positive change from within.’ — my aunt, Sister Eileen Daly, SSJ.” 37

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marketing activities across IBM Watson Media, Watson Advertising, and IBM’s solo consumer portfolio, The Weather Co. With two decades of experience, she translates IBM’s artificial intelligence expertise into a trusted voice that guides brands towards insights-driven, crossplatform strategies.

WHAT SHE’S DOING: Stipes empowers players across the media landscape to adopt emerging technology for more impactful, engaging and agile storytelling. Leveraging her marketing expertise, she has helped transition major media and entertainment companies into data-driven storytellers. From helping sports broadcasters increase fan engagement to maximizing advertising ROI, she sets an example for the next generation of media stakeholders to be tech-savvy marketers. For instance, IBM Watson Media has powered AI initiatives for tentpole sports events such as the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the 2019 Masters golf tournament and the 2018 FIFA World Cup — streamlining production workflows, capturing fans’ attention with AI-generated highlights and solidifying the marriage of emerging tech and engaging sports broadcast experiences.

FUTURE GOALS: Her vision for The Weather Co.

(specifically its flagship solution, Max Engage) opens the door to a new era of broadcasting that reimagines our expectations of how broadcasters and media companies can leverage weather and traffic data to enhance consumer experiences.

BACKGROUND: Prior to IBM, Stipes was managing editor for UPS.com, helping relaunch and scale its digital presence. She has held numerous other positions, all focused on helping traditional media and publishing companies lean into the digital era. She serves on IBM Watson Media and Weather’s Executive Leadership Team and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis.

HOLLY TANG Chief Financial Officer and Head of Production Operations, Lifestyle Networks, NBCUniversal WHY WE’RE WATCHING: As chief financial officer and

head of production operations, lifestyle networks, Holly Tang is responsible for financial oversight of Bravo, E!, Oxygen and Universal Kids. She identifies growth drivers and new revenue streams for the networks and plays a vital role in defining and building strategic initiatives. Tang also oversees all aspects of production operations and management for the four brands. Based in New York, she reports to Frances Berwick, president, lifestyle networks, NBCUniversal. Prior to joining NBCU, Tang was director of finance at Comedy Central.

Previously, she held various positions at MTV Networks.

Tang began her career at Morgan Stanley. She graduated magna cum laude from Smith College with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and mathematics and has an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

LIKES MOST ABOUT JOB: “The people. I’m lucky that I work in an area of our business where women in leadership roles is the norm. I also work for a company that cares about diversity and equal opportunity. Representation does matter!”

LIKES LEAST ABOUT JOB: “Too many meetings! I actually consider myself an introvert but when I’m at work most of my days are spent talking to people. By the time I get home, I need to recharge, decompress … and not talk.”

BIGGEST MENTORS: “My boss, Frances Berwick. She is more than a mentor and boss, she’s been my advocate and supporter. There is so much about her that I admire, but I know she’d be embarrassed if I said any more. But for those who know her, you know what I’m talking about.”

BEST ADVICE EVER RECEIVED: “Don’t pay attention to the noise, just stay focused on your work and on doing a good job.”

WONDER WOMEN 2020

The Honor Roll Recapping past Wonder Women since 1999 CLASS OF 2019 LORI FINK

Chief Legal Officer, Xandr (an AT&T company)

MICHELLE THORNTON GHEE

Executive VP, Business Development Endeavor Global Marketing

MARGARET LAZO

Chief Human Resources Officer, Univision Communications

LAURA NATHANSON

Executive VP, Revenue & Operations, Disney Advertising Sales

FRANCESCA ORSI

Executive VP and Co-Head of Drama, HBO

ALISON OVERHOLT

VP, Editor-in-Chief, ESPN the Magazine, espnW and The ESPYs, ESPN

JO ANN ROSS

President and Chief Revenue Officer, CBS Corp.

MADHU GOEL SOUTHWORTH

Senior VP, Legal & Business Affairs, AMC and SundanceTV (AMC Networks)

MELISSA TOLCHIN

Senior VP of Partner Marketing, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal

CHRISTINE WHITAKER

Senior VP, Keystone Region, Comcast

MICHELLE WILSON

Co-President, World Wrestling Entertainment Senior VP, Public Affairs, Cox Communications

CLASS OF 2018

DARCY ANTONELLIS

The 2019 Wonder Women honorees (l to r.): Michelle Wilson, Madhu Goel Southworth, Leigh Woisard, Lori Fink, Michelle Thornton Ghee, Alison Overholt, Christine Whitaker, Jo Ann Ross, Woman of Influence honoree Debra L. Lee and Margaret Lazo.

CEO, Vubiquity

JESSICA HERRERA-FLANIGAN

Executive VP & Chief Counsel, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal

COLLEEN LANGNER

KERRY BROCKHAGE

CHRISTA D’ALIMONTE

Executive VP, General Counsel & Secretary, Viacom

STEPHANIE DRULEY

Executive VP of Government and Corporate Affairs, Univision Communications Inc. Senior VP, Marketing Operations, Cox Communications

SUSANNE MCAVOY

Senior VP, Event & Studio Production, ESPN

Executive VP, Marketing, Creative and Communications, Crown Media Family Networks

President, Ad Sales, Fox News Channel and Fox Business

Managing Partner, Modi Media

MARIANNE GAMBELLI SARAH GITCHELL

Senior VP, Deputy General Counsel & Chief Counsel – Content Acquisition, Comcast Cable

BETH MAIN

Senior VP, Domestic Network Distribution, HBO

JENNIFER MIRGOROD

Executive VP of Content Distribution & Strategic Partnerships, Turner

DEBRA O’CONNELL

Executive VP, Sales & Marketing Disney/ABC Television Group

ELAINE PAUL

Chief Financial Officer, Strategy & Business Development, Hulu

LORETTA POLK

VP & Associate General Counsel NCTA - The Internet & Television Association

JOSIE THOMAS

Executive VP, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer; CBS Corp.

CLASS OF 2017 JANA BENNETT

President, General Manager, History

SANDRA DEWEY

President, TNT and TBS Production and Business Affairs, Head of Studio T, Turner Broadcasting System

LAURA GENTILE

Senior VP, espnW/Women’s Initiatives, ESPN

JAMIE POWER

LINDA SCHUPACK

Executive VP of Marketing, AMC and SundanceTV

MYRNA SOTO

Senior VP and Global Chief Information Security Officer, Comcast Corp.

CHRISTINA SPADE

Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, Showtime Networks

SANDRA STERN

President, Lionsgate Television Group

LISA WILLIAMS-FAUNTROY

Senior VP for Business and Legal Affairs, Discovery Communications

CLASS OF 2016 PATRICIA BETRON

Senior VP, Multimedia Sales, ESPN NICOLE BUIE VP of Marketing, Cox Media MEGAN CLARKEN President, Product Leadership, Nielsen KAREN GRINTHAL Senior VP, National Ad Sales, Scripps Networks Interactive CYNTHIA HOOK Senior VP, General Auditor and Global Risk Officer, Comcast Corp.

HOLLY JACOBS Executive VP, U.S. Reality and Syndicated Programming, Sony Pictures Television

PAMELA KAUFMAN Chief Marketing Officer and President, Consumer Products, Nickelodeon ARLENE MANOS President, National Advertising Sales, AMC Networks STEPHANIE McMAHON Chief Brand Officer, World Wrestling Entertainment JILL RATNER Executive VP, Litigation, Fox Group MICHELLE RICE Executive VP, Content Distribution and Marketing, TV One SAVALLE SIMS Executive VP, Deputy General Counsel, Discovery Communications ELLEN STONE Executive VP, Marketing, Bravo/Oxygen Media

CLASS OF 2015

LYNN CHARYTAN Senior VP of Legal Regulatory Affairs, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Comcast KATY FERGUSON Executive VP, Managing Partner, Entertainment, Horizon Media JENNIFER HIGHTOWER Senior VP of Law and Policy, General Counsel, Cox Communications SANDRA HOWE Senior VP, Global Marketing, Arris SUSETTE HSIUNG Executive VP, Network Production, Management and Operations, Disney Channel SANDRA KAPELL Executive VP, Human Resources Administration, Cablevision Systems JUDI LOPEZ Senior VP, Affiliate Distribution Marketing, NUVOtv and Fuse SARAH MADIGAN Executive VP, Content Distribution, Univision Communications

Multichannel.com

JohnStaleyPhoto.com

LEIGH WOISARD

39

WONDER WOMEN 2020

MELISSA MAXFIELD Senior VP of Federal Government Affairs, Comcast COURTENEY MONROE CEO, National Geographic Channels U.S. TINA PIDGEON General Counsel Compliance Officer, Senior VP of Government Affairs, General Communication Inc. JANE RICE Senior VP, Distribution, A+E Networks CLAUDIA TERAN Executive VP, Deputy General Counsel, Fox Networks Group, Fox Sports

CLASS OF 2014

SARAH BARNETT President, SundanceTV JENNIFER CHUN Senior VP, Content Acquisition, Time Warner Cable PATRICIA FILI-KRUSHEL Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group BRENDA FREEMAN Chief Marketing Officer, Animation, Young Adults and Kids’ Media, Turner Broadcasting System TARA MAITRA Senior VP, General Manager, Content and Media Sales, TiVo KIMBERLY MAKI Corporate VP, Communications, Bright House Networks JODI MARKLEY Senior VP, Operations, ESPN JANET NOVA Executive VP and Deputy Group General Counsel, 21st Century Fox JESSICA RODRIGUEZ Executive VP, Program Scheduling & Promotions, Univision Communications LISA ROSENBLUM Executive VP, Government and Public Affairs, Cablevision Systems KATHRYN ZACHEM Senior VP, Regulatory, Comcast

CLASS OF 2013

JAMIA BIGALOW Senior VP, Distribution Marketing,Fox Networks DENISE DENSON Executive VP, Content Distribution and Marketing, Viacom Media Networks VIVIANE EISENBERG Senior VP and Chief Counsel, Programming, Global Marketing & Global Licensing, HBO IRENE ESTEVES Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, Time Warner Cable TAMARA FRANKLIN Senior VP, Affiliate Strategy and Business Development­, Scripps Networks Interactive JACQUELINE HERNANDEZ Chief Operating Officer, Telemundo Media AVA JORDHAMO President, New York, Zenith NANCY KANTER Senior VP, Original Programming and GM, Disney Junior Worldwide MARJORIE KAPLAN President and GM, Animal Planet/ President, Science & Velocity Networks CATHY KILSTROM Senior VP, Customer Care, Comcast Cable West Division KIM NORRIS Executive VP, Emerging Businesses & Data Analytics, Cablevision Media Sales DONNA SPECIALE President, Turner Entertainment and Young Adults Ad Sales

CLASS OF 2012

JENNIFER BALL Senior VP, Affiliate Marketing and Distribution, Univision Communications 40

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SHERRY BRENNAN Senior VP, Distribution Strategy and Development­, Fox Networks JODI BRENNER Senior VP, Business and Legal Affairs, TV Networks Distribution, NBCUniversal KAREN DOUGHERTY BUCHHOLZ VP of Administration, Comcast MARISSA FREEMAN Senior VP of Brand Strategy and Marketing Communications, Time Warner Cable REBECCA GLASHOW Senior VP, Digital Media Distribution, Discovery Communications KELLIE GRUTKO VP of Marketing, Comcast Spotlight RHONDA HOLT Senior VP of Media Platform Technologies and Operations, Turner Broadcasting System LORI LEBAS Senior VP of Strategy and Business Operations, ESPN MARY MEDUSKI Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, Suddenlink Communications GEMMA TONER Senior VP of Marketing and Business Development, Cablevision Systems MICHELLE VICARY Executive VP of Programming, Crown Media Networks DANA ZIMMER Executive VP, TV Networks Distribution, NBCUniversal

CLASS OF 2011

LORI CONKLING Executive VP, Distribution, National Accounts, Field Sales & Canada, A&E Television Networks KIMBERLY EDMUNDS Senior VP, Customer Operations, Cox Communications STEPHANIE GIBBONS Executive VP, Marketing and On-Air Promotions, FX MINDY GROSSMAN CEO and Director, HSN JADZ JANUCIK Senior VP, Association Affairs, NCTA GRACE KILLELEA Senior VP, Talent, Comcast MICHELLE KIM Group VP and Chief Counsel, Programming, Time Warner Cable CHRISTINA MILLER Senior VP, Turner Sports Strategy/Marketing/Programming and Cartoon Network Enterprises, Turner Broadcasting System STEPHANIE MITCHKO VP, Interactive Platform, Cablevision Systems LISA SCHWARTZ Executive VP, Distribution and Business Development, IFC Entertainment DIANE TRYNESKI Senior VP, Broadcast, Studio Operations and Engineering, HBO

CLASS OF 2010

JENNIFER CASERTA Executive VP and General Manager, IFC JENNIFER DANGAR Senior VP, Domestic Distribution, Discovery Communications KRISTINE FAULKNER VP, Product Development and Management, Cox Communications MELANI GRIFFITH Senior VP, Programming and Video Services, Insight Communications CATHY HETZEL President, Advanced Media and Information, Rentrak PEARLENA IGBOKWE Senior VP, Original Programming, Showtime DIANA KEREKES VP, Video Content, Comcast KATHLEEN MAYO Executive VP, Consumer Operations, Cablevision Systems

GAIL MacKINNON Executive VP and Chief Government Relations Officer, Time Warner Cable SUE NAEGLE President, HBO Entertainment TONIA O’CONNOR Executive VP, Distribution, Sales and Marketing, Univision RITA TUZON Executive VP and General Counsel, Fox Networks Group

CLASS OF 2009

PEGGY BALLARD Senior Director, Worldwide Service Provider Marketing, Cisco Systems ALINA FALCÓN Executive VP and Operating Manager, Univision JENNIFER GAISKI Senior VP, Content Acquisition, Comcast JOAN GILLMAN Executive VP and President of Media Sales, Time Warner Cable KATE JUERGENS Executive VP of Original Programming and Development, ABC Family VICKI LINS Chief Marketing Officer, Canoe Ventures GWEN MARCUS Executive VP and General Counsel, Showtime Networks PATRICIA McCASKILL Senior VP of Programming, Suddenlink Communications EILEEN O’NEILL President and General Manager, TLC KATHY PAYNE VP of Programming, Cox Communications DIANE ROBINA President, FearNet, Comcast Programming Group

CLASS OF 2008

JANICE AROUH Senior VP, Network Distribution and Service, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel SUSAN BUNDA Executive VP, Content and Strategy, CNN Worldwide JACKIE DE CRINIS Senior VP of Original Scripted Series Programming, USA Network CHARLOTTE FIELD Senior VP, Testing and Operations, Comcast ROSA GATTI Senior VP, Corporate Communications and Outreach, ESPN BROWN JOHNSON Executive VP and Executive Creative Director, Nickelodeon; Preschool General Manager, Noggin AMY TYKESON President and CEO, BendBroadband SANDY WAX President, PBS Kids Sprout MARY WHITE President, Central Division, Charter Communications MELINDA WITMER Executive VP and Chief Programming Officer, Time Warner Cable

CLASS OF 2007

COLLEEN ABDOULAH President, WideOpenWest CATHY AVGIRIS Senior VP and General Manager, Comcast Voice Services DEBBY BEECE President of Programming and Marketing, Oxygen Media FRANCES BERWICK Executive VP of Programming and Production, Bravo Network NANCY DUBUC Executive VP and General Manager, The History Channel MICHELE GANELESS Executive VP and General Manager, Comedy Central JILL LUCKETT Senior VP of Program Network Policy, NCTA

WONDER WOMEN 2020

LINDA McMAHON CEO, World Wrestling Entertainment MARILYN O’CONNELL Senior VP of Video Solutions, Verizon Communications ELOISE SCHMITZ Senior VP of Strategic Planning, Charter Communications

CLASS OF 2006

SHARI ANNE BRILL VP and Director, Programming, Carat USA LOUISE HENRY BRYSON President, Distribution and Affiliate Sales Development, Lifetime Entertainment Services; Executive VP and General Manager, Lifetime Movie Network CHRISTINE DRIESSEN Executive VP and CFO, ESPN PATRICIA GOTTESMAN Executive VP, Product Management and Marketing, Cablevision Systems SUE ANN HAMILTON Executive VP, Programming, Charter Communications CAROL HEVEY Executive VP, Operations, Time Warner Cable Carolinas Region KIM MARTIN Executive VP and General Manager, WE tv LORI McFARLING Senior VP, Distribution, Discovery Communications CHRISTINA NORMAN President, MTV REBECCA SCILINGO VP, Integration and Deployment, Comcast SUZANNE SCOTT Network Executive Producer, Fox News CATHY WEEDEN VP and General Manager, Sunshine Network

CLASS OF 2005

NOMI BERGMAN Executive VP, Strategy and Development, Advance/Newhouse Communications DEBORAH BLACKWELL Senior VP and General Manager, SoapNet STEPHANIE CAMPBELL Executive VP, Programming, DirecTV LAUREN CORRAO Senior VP, Original Programming and Head of Development, Comedy Central LISA GERSH Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Oxygen Media JILL GREENTHAL Senior Managing Director, Corporate Advisory Services, The Blackstone Group MICHELE JAMES Chief Talent Scout and Co-Founder, James and Co. SUZANNE KEENAN Senior VP, Customer Service, Comcast STACEY LYNN KOERNER Executive VP and Director of Global Research and Planning, Viacom HARRIET NOVET VP, Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey SUSAN SWAIN Executive VP and Co-Chief Operating Officer, C-SPAN MEREDITH WAGNER Executive VP, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, Lifetime Television PANDIT WRIGHT Senior Executive VP, Human Resources And Administration, Discovery Communications LINDA YACCARINO Executive VP and General Manager, Turner Entertainment Sales and Marketing LAUREN ZALAZNICK President, Bravo and Trio, NBCUniversal Cable JENNY ALONZO NAMIC President/VP, Creative Services and Production, Lifetime Television

BRIDGET BAKER Senior VP, Cable Distribution, NBC Cable ITALIA COMMISSO WEINAND Senior VP, Programming, Human Resources, Mediacom Communications LYNNE COSTANTINI VP, Programming, Time Warner Cable LEE ANN DALY Senior VP, Marketing, ESPN KRISTIN DOLAN Senior VP, Digital Product Management, Cablevision Systems ELLEN EAST VP, Communications and Investor Relations, Cox Communications BETSY FRANK Executive VP, Research and Planning, MTV Networks ANDREA GREENBERG President, Distribution, Rainbow Sports Networks DENA KAPLAN Senior VP, Marketing, GSN LYNN PICARD Executive VP and General Manager, Lifetime Television JESSICA REIF COHEN First VP, Senior Media and Entertainment Research Analyst, Merrill Lynch DEBORA WILSON Chief Operating Officer, The Weather Channel and The Weather Channel Interactive

CLASS OF 2003

AMY BANSE VP, Programming Investments, Comcast MARY-ELLIS BUNIM Executive Producer and Co-Founder, Bunim/Murray Productions MAE DOUGLAS Senior VP and Chief People Officer, Cox Communications DANIELLE GELBER VP, Original Programming, Showtime Networks PAMELA EULER HALLING Senior VP, Marketing and Programming, Insight Communications KATHY JOHNSON Executive VP, NAMIC LAUREEN ONG President, National Geographic Channel ELLEN SCHNED Senior VP, National Accounts and Affiliate Marketing, Court TV LINDA SIMENSKY Senior VP, Original Animation, Cartoon Network CAROLYN STRAUSS Executive VP, Original Programming, HBO DOMINIQUE TELSON VP, Original Programming, Showtime Networks SUSAN WHITING President and CEO, Nielsen Media Research CYMA ZARGHAMI Executive VP and General Manager, Nickelodeon

CLASS OF 2002

NICOLE BROWNING President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing, MTV Networks SHERITA CAESAR VP and General Manager, Subscriber Network Services, Scientific Atlanta JILL CAMPBELL Operations VP, Cox Communications MIRANDA CURTIS President, Liberty Media International SUSAN MARSHALL Senior VP, AT&T Broadband CHRIS MOSELEY Executive VP, Worldwide Marketing, Crown Media Holdings SHEILA NEVINS Executive VP, Original Programming, HBO ABBE RAVEN General Manager and Executive VP, The History Channel

PAMELA THOMAS-GRAHAM President and CEO, CNBC BARBARA YORK Senior Industry Affairs VP and Chief Administrative Officer, NCTA

CLASS OF 2001

CHAR BEALES President/CEO, Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing MARY PAT BLAKE Senior VP, Marketing, Charter Communications ANN CARLSEN Founder and Chairman, Carlsen Resources KATHLEEN DORE President, Bravo Networks JUDY GIRARD Senior VP and General Manager, Food Network YVETTE GORDON Interactive Technologies Director, SeaChange International BONNIE HAMMER Executive VP and General Manager, Sci Fi Channel KIM KELLY Executive VP, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Insight Communications DEBRA LEE President and Chief Operating Officer, Black Entertainment Television ANN MONTGOMERY Senior VP, Operations, Adelphia Communications DAWN TARNOFSKY-OSTROFF Executive VP, Entertainment, Lifetime Television MAGGIE BELLVILLE Executive Operations VP, Cox Communications CAROLE BLACK President and CEO, Lifetime Television CHRISTIE HEFNER Chairman and CEO, Playboy Enterprises MINDY HERMAN President and CEO, In Demand LLC BROOKE JOHNSON/DELIA FINE Executive VP and General Manager; Original Films, Drama, Performing Arts VP, A&E Network JUDITH McHALE President and Chief Operating Officer, Discovery Communications PAM McKISSICK/LUCY HOOD President and Chief Operating Officer, TV Guide Networks; Senior VP and General Manager, Sneak Prevue ROSEMARIE NYE Cable Communications VP, Lucent Technologies PAT THOMPSON Senior VP, Daniels and Associates MAGGIE WILDEROTTER President and CEO, Wink Communications

CLASS OF 1999

BETTY COHEN President, Cartoon Network DEBORAH LATHEN Cable Services Bureau Chief, Federal Communications Commission GERALDINE LAYBOURNE Chairman, Oxygen Media MARGARET LOESCH President and CEO, Odyssey Network KATE McENROE President, American Movie Classics, AMC Networks JUDY McGRATH President, MTV Networks SUSAN PACKARD Chief Operating Officer, Home & Garden Television JAN PETERS/JULIE BERG/JUDITH ALLEN President and CEO; Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer; Senior VP, Video, MediaOne Group FRAN SHEA Acting President, E! Networks ANNE SWEENEY President, Disney/ABC Cable Networks

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31

FREEZE FRAME

(From l.): Kelly Ripa, Ryan Seacrest, Michael Gelman and David Muir at the “PaleyLive: An Evening with Live with Kelly and Ryan” event at The Paley Center for Media in New York.

Restaurateur Tom Colicchio arrives for a taping of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in New York.

Team Peak Consulting won the $3,000 grand prize at the Rocky Mountain Cable Association’s 2020 “Cable Apprentice” competition in Denver (l. to r.): Aaron Voss, president, RMCA; judge Roger Seiken, SVP, video programming, WOW; judge Bob James, VP, content & acquisition, NBCUniversal; team members Vasanth Rajasekar, Chantelle Stevenson and Jessica Olvera; and judge Jana Henthorn, president and CEO, The Cable Center.

Charles Sykes/Bravo

At WICT Southern California and the California Cable Telecommunications Association’s "Diversity Mentoring & Advancing Your Career" panel in La Jolla, Calif. (l. to r.): Jana Henthorn, president and CEO, The Cable Center; Italia Commisso, EVP, programming and HR, Mediacom; Rori Peters, SVP, distribution, TV One; Linda Kavanagh, VP of HR, Cox California; Bridget Baker, CEO, Baker Media; and Nancy Yoon, founder, Asians in L.A.

42

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At the Southwest Cable Communications Association’s Pioneer Inductee Dinner (from l.): Randy Nelson, cable counsel from law firm Osborn Maledon in Phoenix, Arizona; and Tammy Burgess, Cox Communications.

SUBMISSIONS: Send your most recent press photos, with an ID, contact name and telephone number via email to: michael.demenchuk@futurenet.com. Electronic images should be at least 4 inches by 6 inches at 300 DPI.

FREEZE FRAME: TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP AWARDS

Winners on hand at the 2020 Technology Leadership Awards, held in conjunction with Future's Technology Leadership Summit in Atlanta (l. to r.): Renard Jenkins, formerly of PBS; Stephanie Lone, CBS Interactive; Chris Blandy, Walt Disney Television; Fred Baumgartner, ONE Media 3.0; and Jeff Mayzurk, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

Bill Gannon, global editor-in-chief of B+C and Multichannel News, presents the award to Fred Baumgartner, director, Next Gen TV implementation, ONE Media 3.0/Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Honoree Renard Jenkins, the former VP, production, media and distribution operations at PBS Technology and Operations.

Chris Blandy, executive VP, technology solutions at Walt Disney Televison and a Technology Leadership Awards honoree.

Aaron Tunnell, business development manager, Media & Entertainment at Amazon Web Services, which sponsored the awards dinner.

Award winner Stephanie Lone, senior VP, CBS Sports Digital, CBS Sports Interactive.

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DATA MINE

Data provided by

Ad Meter Who’s spending what where

PROMO MOJO Our exclusive weekly ranking of the programming that networks are promoting most heavily (March 9-15)

BIG SPENDERS

MOST-SEEN TV ADS

Brands ranked by the greatest increase in TV spend (March 9-15)

Brands ranked

by TV ad impressions (March 9-15)

1

1

Volkswagen Spend Increase:

GEICO ▲ 288%

$5.6M

Est. TV Spend Spend Within Industry: Top Network:

8% ABC

2

Est. TV Spend:

$8.1M

Total TV ad impressions within all U.S. households, including national linear (live and time-shifted), VOD plus OTT and local

Est. Media Value: $894,361

Food Network

Estimated media value of in-network promos On the strength of 284.4 million TV ad impressions, Food Network’s promo for Buddy vs. Duff 2 is No. 1, moving up from second place last time — a chart position the network actually still hangs on to to hype Supermarket Stakeout. Only one traditional broadcaster, Fox, makes the top five by promoting 9-1-1 in third. Meanwhile, CNN — during this moment in history when news is breaking at a record pace — closes out the ranking with promos for its 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate in fourth place and a promo for its latest primary coverage in fifth. Notably, the CNN primary promo earns the highest iSpot Attention Index (131) in our ranking, getting 131% fewer interruptions than the average promo (interruptions include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

44

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Top Show:

SportsCenter

TV Ad Impressions:

$9.2M 92.09

Attention Score:

Top Network:

TBS

Top Show:

NBC Nightly News

3

Progressive ▲ 154%

TV Ad Impressions:

864.5M

Est. TV Spend:

$12.5M

TOP 5 PROMOTIONS

Est. TV Spend: Spend Within Industry:

10%

Attention Score:

1. Buddy vs. Duff 2, Food Network

Top Network:

CBS

Top Show:

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

Network

3. 9-1-1, Fox

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

233,631,440 $856,612

210,838,501 $1,696,169

4. 2020 Democratic Presidential Debates, CNN

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

5. CNN, CNN

TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

$6.5M

94.83 Friends

284,385,518 $894,361

2. Supermarket Stakeout, Food TV Ad Impressions Est. Media Value

1.1B

Est. TV Spend:

38%

Spend Increase

93.07

Attention Score:

Spend Within Industry:

Nissan

TV Ad Impressions: 284,385,518

$19.6M

Est. TV Spend:

Liberty Mutual ▲ 202%

3 Buddy vs. Duff 2, Food Network

1.3B

2

Amazon Spend Increase

TV Ad Impressions:

196,494,858 $901,857

4

Spend Increase Est. TV Spend:

T-Mobile ▲ 122%

$2.3M

TV Ad Impressions:

858.3M

Est. TV Spend:

$11.6M

Spend Within Industry:

10%

Attention Score:

Top Network:

NBC

Top Show:

5

Spend Increase

78.64 The Bachelor

5

Walgreens Est. TV Spend:

150,192,286 $619,020

4

Disney+

Toyota ▲ 121%

$3.1M

TV Ad Impressions:

824.4M

Est. TV Spend:

$6.7M 88.97

Spend Within Industry:

99%

Attention Score:

Top Network:

NBC

Top Show:

Ridiculousness

DATA MINE

STUDY: ANDROID TV TO BECOME WORLD’S DOMINANT SET-TOP PLATFORM

MCN’S MOST VIEWED

THE PAY TV SET-TOP isn’t necessarily going away. But it is entering a new era in which countless video operating systems will be whittled down to a precious few. And Google’s Android TV platform will emerge the clear world leader.

That’s the conclusion of Rethink Technology Research’s report How to Survive the Set-Top Box Endgame.

Android TV will have its biggest growth in the AsiaPacific region over the next five years, surging past 160 million deployed devices, Rethink predicted. In the U.S., its growth will be curtailed by the Reference Design Kit (RDK),

a group that includes Comcast, Liberty Global and other cable companies, and which specifies an open software stack for pay TV set-tops and other customer premises equipment.

Google enjoys far less penetration in the global OTT device business with Android TV. But it does have some juice in regard to its Chromecast streaming dongle, which controls 11% of the U.S. OTT device market. Google is reportedly working on a new version of Chromecast based on Android TV. — Daniel Frankel For more stories on streaming video, go to nexttv.com

Android Set Tops By Region

Top stories on multichannel.com, March 9-March 19 MIllions

1. Verizon Closing Some Retail Stores During Pandemic

180

North America China

160

2. T-Mobile Outlines Coronavirus-Related Service Changes

Latam

140

3. Charter Opening WiFi Hotspots in Face of COVID-19

Europe AsiaPac

120 100

4. Altice USA Offers Free Broadband to Homes with K-12, College Students During Coronavirus Scare

80 60

5. Comcast Ramps Up (Public) Service to Meet Coronavirus Challenge

40 20

To read these stories, go to multichannel.com/March23.

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2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 SOURCES: Rethink Financial Research

Ratings Rank

Telecast (Week Ending March 8)

Network

Stickiness Index*

1

56

The Walking Dead

AMC

149

2

76

The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Bravo

139

3

25

90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days

TLC

139

4

21

The Curse of Oak Island

History

138

5

253

Project Runway

Bravo

137

6

824

La Rosa de Guadalupe

Galavisión

134

7

78

Gold Rush

Discovery

133

8

68

When Calls the Heart

Hallmark Channel

131

9

51

WWE Monday Night Raw

USA Network

131

10

17

NBA Basketball 1

ESPN

131

Stickiness Rank

Project Runway

1. Milwaukee Bucks at Los Angeles Lakers from Staples Center

* TV Engagement ratings powered by Comscore’s TV Essentials. (Sorted by social media activity.)

Multichannel.com

Jace Downs/AMC; Getty Images

STICKIEST SHOWS Top 10 cable programs ranked by viewer engagement

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VIEWPOINT

A Whole New World COVID-19 pandemic will test telecom industry’s mettle MCN Editorial

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

I

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n less than a week, the novel in “novel coronavirus” has worn off, and what was a red flag has become a siren pulsing constantly in the nation’s collective ears, like those monthly emergency alert tests — only this time it’s real.

Media companies are answering that call to arms in what has become a race against time in a war against an unseen enemy. It is, and will have to be, a mass mobilization that puts immediate business interests on the back burner, at least for now.

Internet-service providers are suspending shutoffs for nonpayment, opening up their hundreds of thousands of WiFi hotspots, suspending overage charges, boosting speeds and capacity and donating time and resources to help bridge social distancing through virtual communities. “[W]e want our customers to access the internet without thinking about data plans,” Comcast said.

As ACA Connects president Matt Polka said of broadband in the time of coronavirus: “If it wasn’t vital before, which we know it was, it is that much more vital now.”

Creative Thinking

Broadband companies are having to think creatively so that their customers don’t have to think about anything but logging on and linking up.

Multichannel.com

Are companies hoping that, eventually, the previously unconnected being brought on board with free service will become paying customers? Sure. But everyone is hoping for the day when life and business will get back to normal, or whatever the new normal is going to be.

Were there calls from Congress for action and prods from the Federal Communications Commission? Sure, and rightly so.

That does nothing to diminish the help that a strong private sector, and a cable broadband community that has invested hundreds of billions over the past two decades to build out and upgrade networks, can and must now provide.

And it would take an unrepentant cynic to assert that it took such prodding to get media companies to pitch in in times of crisis. “During this extraordinary time, it is vital that as many Americans as possible

Medical staff at a facility in Seoul, South Korea take samples at a building where a coronavirus outbreak occured.

The pandemic has now spread across the U.S.

Everyone is hoping for the day when life and business will get back to normal, or whatever the new normal is going to be.

stay connected to the internet — for education, work, and personal health reasons,” Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said of his company’s efforts. “Our employees also live and work in virtually every community we serve and we all share the same belief that it’s our company’s responsibility to step up and help out.”

FCC chairman Ajit Pai launched a “Keep America Connected” campaign to encourage such teamwork. But keeping America connected is already in the DNA of the industry.

And the FCC deserves credit for brainstorming with Congress to free up funds and temporary authority to allow carriers to donate equipment to schools and hospitals, as well as new pilot programs in both those areas.

Companies that compete for spectrum to deliver wireless broadband have been teaming up to increase capacity to meet the needs of millions of homebound students as schools across the nation shuttered, and of healthcare workers as remote diagnosis and treatment ramp up to relieve the stress on hospitals and preserve social distancing, and as millions work remotely from home, many for the first time.

Sharing, Modeling Behaviors

The FCC is moving quickly to authorize such spectrum sharing. It granted Verizon special temporary authority (STA) to use additional spectrum, which is being supplied

by Northstar Wireless LLC and SNR Wireless, familiar names to followers of the FCC’s auction of AWS-3 spectrum.

Comcast and Dish, which otherwise compete aggressively for eyeballs and dollars, were teaming up, with the help of the FCC, to offer up some of their 600 MHz spectrum holdings to T-Mobile.

Media companies have also rightly begun modeling the kind of social distancing that the White House coronavirus team notably lacked at its daily televised briefings.

Anchors have begun giving each other space.

CNN was using some microphone extenders to keep distance in stand-ups.

This would be a good time for the president to suspend his constant attacks on the mainstream media as fake and corrupt, since the public will be even more reliant on electronic media for connection and reassurance.

And while this is an issue of unprecedented seriousness, there is also a value in the relief that entertainment brings those sheltering in place. With movie theaters and plays and concerts out of bounds, video from towers, wires, beams and streams will be the primary diversion for an anxious nation — from Hallmark Channel’s decision to revive its Christmas marathon last weekend, reminding us that it is always the holiday season somewhere on cable, to a kitty version of the canceled March Madness basketball tournament.

We will get through this together and the communications industry will be a key player, perhaps the key player, in making and keeping those essential connections. ●

THE FIVE SPOT

Gena McCarthy

EVP and Head of Programming, Lifetime Unscripted & FYI Emmy-nominated programmer leads network’s docuseries charge

L

ifetime has redefined the docuseries for a new generation of viewers with its provocative, sometimes controversial focus on headline-grabbing topics and personalities. From limited series such as Surviving R. Kelly — which focused on singer R. Kelly’s history of alleged sexual abuse — to culture-challenging shows like Married at First Sight, the network continues to serve its targeted female audiences in authentic and innovative ways.

Leading the network’s programming charge is Gena McCarthy, executive VP and head of programming, Lifetime Unscripted & FYI, who recently spoke to R. Thomas Umstead, Multichannel News senior content producer, programming, about the basic cable network’s nonfiction programming strategy.

How is Lifetime’s heavy focus on docuseries helping to shape the network brand? We had tremendous success with tentpole documentaries. The gigantic headline that worked from a cultural and female empowerment point of view was Surviving R. Kelly. Because that one was so explosively strong on every possible level, we strategically expanded our approach to the genre, including literally expanding the Surviving franchise with

Surviving R. Kelly Part 2: The Reckoning and Surviving Jeffrey Epstein.

BONUS FIVE

How transcendent was the Surviving R. Kelly franchise? The series led to a 40% increase in calls to help lines, which we are incredibly proud of, but it also led us to expanding our reach with other stories. There are many others coming down the pipeline.

What’s on your DVR? Every episode of Big Bang Theory; women’s NCAA volleyball championships.

Why are Lifetime’s bioseries resonating with female viewers? I think authenticity is key. The stories that resonate best with viewers are those that they are familiar with. Relationships are the North Star for everything from a content point of view on Lifetime right now, so being able to tell these stories through that lens of intimate relationships is something that our audiences want. These stories have such famous — and sometimes infamous — highs and lows and twists, which we learned our viewers crave, whether it's in a movie of the week, a scripted series or a best performing documentary series that we offer, [so] it’s worked really well. We’re also developing biomovies; there is a Wendy Williams movie and documentary that’s coming through, and we’re constantly developing movies that tell the stories of women that have inspiring, controversial and dramatic — but always authentic — life stories

Books on your nightstand?

Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson; The Witch Elm by Tana French Favorite food destination?

Primanti Brothers: Best comfort food in hometown Pittsburgh, ever.

A full meal inside two giant slabs of bread.

Bucket list destination? Fiji — to swim and read 24/7.

Favorite podcast?

The Daily

Gena McCarthy (r.) has helped Lifetime build its unscripted portfolio with ratings-grabbing docuseries such as Married at First Sight.

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Multichannel.com

that work so brilliantly with our audience.

What’s been Lifetime’s secret to maintaining the success of its iconic brand in the face of competition from femaletargeted cable and streaming services?

We use a phrase called ‘outrageously relatable characters and stories,’ and when we get it right it leads to incredibly well-performing series like Dance Moms and Married at First Sight, which is the best performing content on the brand. We have a show called Bride & Prejudice, which types into the cultural zeitgeist right now. Having these outrageously relatable stories — all told through a relationship filter that has a provocative bite to it — works incredibly well for Lifetime.

How well is Lifetime positioned for the evolving media landscape? The proliferation of places to watch and what to watch is astonishing and sometimes overwhelming, but what we always talk about on our teams is great content will always win, and great content transcends any distribution platform. ●

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