At the moment, Warner Bros. Discovery introduced that Kathleen Finch is retiring as chairman and CEO, US Networks, after 25 years with the corporate. She will probably be changed by Channing Dungey, Warner Bros. Tv Group chairman and CEO.
Amongst Finch’s duties at Warner Bros. Discovery, the chief oversaw animation cable networks Grownup Swim and Cartoon Community in addition to TNT and TBS.
“There is no such thing as a one higher at growing fascinating content material, compelling expertise, and significant life-style manufacturers than Kathleen, who has been my accomplice as we constructed our premier leisure networks at Discovery and created Warner Bros. Discovery as an unscripted powerhouse,” CEO David Zaslav in an announcement. “Whereas I perceive her long-standing choice to retire, I’ll actually miss her, as will your complete firm, which has benefited from her unmatched collaboration and distinctive understanding of what our audiences crave.”
In an announcement, Finch mirrored on her profession, together with transferring from Scripps to Discovery alongside the best way.
“I started my journey on the fledgling Meals Community and am so proud to have helped flip it right into a cable powerhouse, after which to steer the staff growing a number of the most addictive unscripted franchises throughout HGTV and TLC, creating family names out of cooks and home flippers, and capturing the cultural dialog with real-life tales,” Finch mentioned. “The best pleasure, and the half I’ll miss essentially the most, is the unimaginable individuals with whom I get to work day-after-day.”
Finch additionally threw help behind Dungey as her successor, saying that the chief’s management would have “many successes to come back.”
Dungey, ADWEEK’s 2024 TV Govt of the Yr, turned chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Tv Group in 2020, making her one of many premier Black executives main the cost within the tv trade. Previous to that, she was president of ABC’s Leisure Group and vice chairman of authentic content material at Netflix.
In 2023, she revitalized the long-running Bachelor franchise with the hit sequence The Golden Bachelor. Excluding sports activities, that sequence ended up changing into the No. 2 leisure sequence, scripted or unscripted, on community tv in the important thing demos.
“Channing is an unparalleled inventive govt who has shepherded numerous award-winning hit exhibits,” Zaslav added. “She has the best experience and expertise—as a content material developer, platform programmer, and community govt—to steer the US Networks.”
