WJLA VP and general manager Bill Lord is leaving the station. The ABC affiliate is the centerpiece of Sinclair's $985 million acquisition of Allbritton. According to a memo, Sept 20 will be the last day for Lord, who was named WJLA’s station manager in 2009 and general manager in late 2011..
U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard has been hired by NBC Sports to be part of its upcoming Premier League coverage. He will work up to 10 matches — either in the booth as game analyst or in the studio for pre-game,halftime and post-game shows. Those duties will be scheduled accordingly so as not to interfere with his goalkeeping for Premier League club Everton.
Javier Avitia has been promoted to executive VP of legal business affair at CBS Studios International. Avita, who has worked with the international division for more than 15 years, will oversee all business and legal affairs for the international division, working closely with Jonathan Anschell, executive VP and general counsel of CBS Television, and reporting to Armando Nuñez, president and CEO of the CBS Global Distribution Group.
Producer Carlton Cuse’s pilot has been picked up by USA Network, it announced July 28.Colony, which follows a family trying to survive the struggle of the human race, will be executive produced by the Lost alum as well as Ryan Condal, writer of Hercules.
Three new associates have been hired by Got Your 6, the entertainment industry-backed veteran campaign announced July 28. Cindy Goldberg, who comes with years of experience in the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors, will serve as director of development, in charge of the campaign’s fundraising activities. Army veteran Kate Hoit, the new director of communications, is tasked with creating multichannel communication strategy for Got your 6 to expand the reach and influence of its message. Julia Tivald, who just completed a year as member of the AmeriCorps VISTA program, is director of strategy, focused on long-term planning and program implementation.
Don George, Owen Gleiberman and Lucy Marcus have joined BBC.com’s travel, culture and capital sections, respectively. George, previously Lonely Planet’s global travel editor and National Geographic Traveller’s editor-at-large, will be a contributing editor on BBC.com/Travel’s new monthly column, “Words and Wanderlust.” Gleiberman, who served as Entertainment Weekly’s film critic for 24 years, will primarily write movie reviews for BBC.com/Culture. Marcus, a renowned columnist who has been awarded the Thinkers 50 “Future Thinkers” Award, will write monthly columns on governance, leadership and boardrooms for BBC.com/Capital.
The American Cable Association elected Robert Gessner, president of MCTV (the renamed Massillon Cable TV), to a two-year term as chairman. Gessner, formerly the vice chair, has been a prominent voice on the price of programming and in the retrans debate. Elected to a two-year term as vice chair was board member Patty Boyers, VP of BOYCOM.
Cross MediaWorks has named Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, the former long-time exec of Cablevision Systems, as chief technology officer. Mitchko-Beale will be responsible for leading the advancement of data-enhanced advertising solutions for the New York-based multiplatform ad company.
McGavren Guild Media has added Anne Kensington-Lott to the firm in the new VP, Hispanic platform role. Kensington-Lott’s focus will be to keep growing the independent media representation firm’s entire platform, focusing specifically on increasing Hispanic business via adding stations and taking advantage of its television, audio, digital and out-of-home assets. As it stands, one-third of U.S. Hispanic households are reached by radio station partners of McGavren Guild Media, which is a part of Genesis Media Holdings.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has expanded the role of Bruce Theriault, senior VP of radio, to include TV as the new senior VP for journalism and radio. Theriault will work on cross-platform strategies for journalism efforts across TV, radio and online.
Mark Gall was appointed chief revenue officer of DEFY Media on July 28. In addition to leading the sales staff, Gall, who had been executive VP, TV & Digital Ad Sales for BBC Worldwide since 2007, will help find advertising solutions for the company, a top digital content producer and distributor.
Cable pioneer Kenneth Gunter, who played an integral role in the creation of C-SPAN, died at the age of 83. An early backer of C-SPAN, Gunter helped launch UA Columbia and was a long-time executive at the company through multiple mergers.
Jame Milstein has been promoted news director of KIRO 7 Eyewitness News, Cox Media Group announced July 24. After stints in California and Washington DC, Milstein was hired at KIRO 7 Eyewitness News in 2008 as managing editor. Four years later, he was also made digital manager, in charge of the station’s digital assets and social media.
MTV announced July 24 that hip-hop artist Iggy Azalea will host House of Style, the network’s upcoming eight-episode digital series. Azalea will chronicle the fashion industry’s evolution alongside technlogy and music in the resurrection of the MTV series that originally ran from 1989 to 2000.
Derl McCrudden has been appointed head of international video news by the Associated Press. McCrudden, who joined AP in London in 2010, previously served as head of video newsgathering. Other changes include Denise Vance, deputy director of U.S. video, who became head of U.S. video and radio, and Vaughn Morrison, a former CNN and Fox executive, was named head of U.S. video production.
Omar Javaid was hired as senior VP of Discovery, Rovi Corporation announced July 23. Javaid, previously a VP at Hewlett-Packard, will oversee product marketing, program management, user experience, architecture, engineering and product lifecycle management for the new Discovery business group.
Stephen J. Ventura has been tapped as VP and general manager for WFXV-WPNY Utica (N.Y.), Nexstar’s Fox-MyNetworkTV combo in upstate New York. Ventura, who had been director of sales at the Utica stations since 2006, will also oversee WUTR, the local ABC affiliate that’s owned by closely aligned Mission Broadcasting.
CBS News has promoted Danna Castiglia to VP, business development, senior VP and CFO Thomas S. Shilen, Jr. announced July 23. Castiglia, who has been at CBS for 17 years, most recently as CBS Corporation’s VP of corporate development, will manage CBS News’ transactions related to business as well as all of the division’s business development.
NBCUniversal has promoted Katie Larkin to executive VP, advertising sales research and strategy. She will head a new group focused on data from the NBCU’s broadcast, cable and digital assets and report to Trish Frohman, executive VP, advertising sales strategy and operations.
Boris Eventov has joined MDL Communications as senior consultant. The company of Canadian telecom marketing specialists announced the hire on July 22. Eventov, considered by many to be an authority on the Canadian cable industry, will comanage MDL’s vendor-clientele within the marketplace in Canada.
