HBO Max will look to build on the success of the It horror movie franchise with a prequel series to New Line movies.

The series, Welcome to Derry, takes place prior to 2017’s IT and 2019’s It Chapter Two movies, which are based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The series expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti’ two It films, which grossed a combined $538 million at the U.S. domestic box office, according to Box Office Mojo. 

Andy and Barbara Muschietti will serve as executive producers for Welcome to Derry, along with Brad Caleb Kane and Jason Fuchs. HBO Max and Warner Bros. Television will produce the series, according to the streamer.  

“We are thrilled to continue this iconic franchise with the brilliant Andy and Barbara Muschietti, Jason Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane,” HBO Max head of original content Sarah Aubrey said in a statement. “This prequel will expand the IT storytelling canvas and bring fans deeper into the terrifying, mesmerizing town of Derry.” 

Fuchs, who will write the teleplay for the first episode of the series, added: “To be able to return to the world of my all-time favorite horror novel and help build upon the singularly brilliant cinematic universe created by Andy and Barbara is more than the opportunity of a lifetime, it’s a dream come true – or, maybe more impropriety, a nightmare.” ■ 

Charter Communications said it has promoted Jodi Robinson to EVP, Digital Platforms and Jake Perlman to EVP, software development & IT. Both will report to Charter’s chief product and technology officer Rich DiGeronimo.

Robinson has overseen the digital platforms organization since 2019 and the user experience design and development organization since she joined Charter as an SVP in 2014. Prior to Charter, Robinson was VP of internet & interactive technology at Starz Entertainment, and earlier held a variety of software development and architecture roles at Level 3 Communications and Sun Microsystems. 

In her new role will oversee the expansion of the Charter’s Digital Platforms organization, which currently leads video product management, customer self-service platforms, the internal design agency, and the data platforms organization. Experiences that support customer service representatives and field technicians, and customer online ordering and video engineering will also be under Robinson’s purview. 

“Under Jodi’s leadership, the digital platforms team has produced great success with the Spectrum TV App along with driving adoption and increasing customer satisfaction for Spectrum’s top- rated self-support application, the My Spectrum App. Expanding our award-winning digital practices to employee-facing experiences will increase efficiency and elevate our ability to serve the needs of our customers,” said DiGeronimo.

Under Perlman, Charter will unify the previously separate shared enterprise software development, infrastructure, and deployment processes with the IT and Software Engineering organizations, the company said.

“We are experiencing a rapid transformation in the technology that customers and employees use,” DiGeronimo said in a press release. “We must continually refine and improve our products to differentiate and to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers and employees.”

Perlman joined Charter as an SVP in 2016, initially overseeing video and shared software services. He added video engineering, voice engineering, lab infrastructure and deployment support to his team in 2019. Before joining Charter, Perlman served as chief information officer for Bright House Networks. Prior to that he held various IT positions at CenturyLink. 

“Jake brings a broad range of software development experience to the IT function, with the most recent example of developing the company’s Advanced Home Wi-Fi product,” DiGeronimo said in the press release. “By uniting IT and the software engineering teams, Jake will be able to drive top-notch development practices that will power best in-class experiences for our customers, as well as our employees who serve them. I am confident that Jake and Jodi’s leadership will continue to accelerate our collective success.”

RELATED:Special Report > Building Pay TV’s Workforce of the Future [subscription required]

Recruiting in the digital age is challenging pay TV operators and programmers as they struggle to fill digital and technology jobs. Two recruiters specializing in the media/entertainment industry – Renee Hauch, EVP of recruiter Carlsen Resources, and Lisa Kaye, president and CEO of online jobs network Greenlightjobs.com -- shared their perspective on that challenge and tips on how pay TV companies can meet it with Multichannel News contributing editor Leslie Jaye Goff. An edited transcript follows.

MCN: What are the high-priority and hard-to-fill jobs in the digital and tech domains?

Lisa Kaye: Engineers, programmers, content developers who can think about new ways of what’s hot, social media marketing people. Every company needs the people who sit behind the scenes in social media, and that didn’t even exist five to eight years ago.

IT people are like accountants – you always need them. Engineers with multiple skill sets – who understand how the content is produced and can hard code – are must-haves.

I think the metrics-driven jobs -- anything in analytics, whether data analytics, programming analytics, research analytics – are very popular now. Any role that focuses on gathering data relative to viewership and usership and ownership, and any data relative to the look-and-feel of what viewers are experiencing is very hot.

Renee Hauch: Whereas analytics used to be separate, now it’s becoming more a part of lots of jobs across different departments, from finance to marketing. Companies want people who can really understand those numbers and turn that data into a new show, a new set of subscribers, a new platform.

So while there has always been a right-brain/left-brain, creative-vs. analytics approach, as the industry changes everyone is looking for people who can figure that out. They want people who have at least a general understanding of how to take information and turn it into revenue, however that may be.

MCN: In what other ways are the types of candidates and skill sets that pay TV companies need evolving?

RH: Initially we saw companies saying, “We are digital, and we only want digital experience.” Now they’re taking a step back and looking for blended skills, like a marketing specialist with knowledge of the linear world, the history of TV and digital experience. It’s happening across, sales, marketing and production; they want people who are on top of TV trends and also knows what’s working and what’s not working in digital. We’re seeing a morphing of the two.

MCN: What’s driving the digital/tech demand?

LK: Millennials are not looking at content on traditional TV anymore; they’re watching on any other device you can think of, so on the MSO side, they’re looking at how the viewer of the future will be watching content, and staying ahead of that. Also, with the onset of 4K and virtual reality – and the companies that are integrating those technologies for the B-to-C market – they’re realizing, “If we don’t get a handle on what that product is going to look like to the consumer, we’ll be behind the 8-ball as a cable provider.”

On the programmer side, networks are looking at, "What are we going to distribute, what are viewers watching and what are the platforms we need to be on?” And, “How do we manage those assets in a way that protects IT and IP and gives viewers what they want?"

RH: We still do linear programming candidate searches, but more and more of the demand is in the digital space, and that has changed how we recruit and how the companies are recruiting.

MCN: How so?

RH: Recruiting is a much bigger sales job because they have to lure people in from outside the industry and they’re competing head-to-head with the digital media companies. Finding candidates requires much more targeted outreach, and vetting them takes a lot more time. And when a prospect is really good, they have multiple companies coming after them, so we’re also seeing a lot more of a sales effort: “Let’s fly out your family, show you around, really give you time to know the company.”

MCN: What motivates the digital and tech pros to accept offers, and measured by that, what should pay TV companies do to be more competitive in the digital/tech jobs market?

RH: Sometimes a candidate’s decision comes down to money, and sometimes it’s the title, or the ability to work from home. The tech companies tend to be more flexible, whereas linear TV companies have tended toward having more set HR policies. Pay TV companies have to be flexible and see what they can give and what they can’t – it can be the scope of the job or money or the environment.

LK: Companies should be evaluating the work environment and work culture as part of the recruiting package, looking at how they are positioning not just the job and its progression, but what is this work environment going to look like when the new hire show up? Do they need an office or can they work remotely? They need to be concerned about the look-and-feel of the company and the culture inside.

I think for candidates it’s really 50% compensation and 50% who I work for and what projects I’m working on. That is equally, if not more, important than compensation for these kinds of candidates. Compensation is important but not the driving force of why they take a job – it’s about the innovation and who am I getting behind that could be the next Steve Jobs?

They go to tech startups for the ride, for the upside. Those are much more palatable drivers than bonuses and benefits. That’s a model that cable needs to get its hands around fairly quickly and, from their current cultural environment, it might not be an easy switch.

RH: I was doing a network EVP of programming search, and an OTT provider was courting the same person for a similar position with the title of “director.” The pay was similar, but the programmer had better long-term incentives. But the candidate chose the OTT provider because the environment had that energy and entrepreneurial culture.

And that’s why sometimes it’s hard to compete against the digital tech companies It comes back to the branding piece and whether it’s a brand people are passionate about.

MCN: The 2015 CTHRA Compensation Surveys show both MSOs and programmers increased salaries for key digital and tech jobs last year, and yet they still lag behind digital and tech companies in total compensation across the org chart. What else can they do to seal the deal with an in-demand candidate?

LK: Pay TV companies are lagging behind in total compensation. The digital companies’ compensation model emphasizes total compensation – including bonuses, equity, etc. – while traditional cable companies are still on an older model of focusing on higher base pay instead of variable compensation. It will be interesting to see if that affects their ability to be aggressive because they’re still in transition.

RH: The digital companies can definitely throw more money at people. Pay TV companies are sensitive to wanting to bring talent on board and make them feel well compensated, but when a new SVP is making $50,000 more a year than another who’s been there longer, that’s a problem.

One scripted programmer we worked with realized they were losing people to higher offers, so they spent for the SVP they wanted but then boosted everyone else’s salary as well, and they’ve had great retention. You have to see the value of your team because when you lose people, it costs so much to replace them.

We used to see five-figure sign-on bonuses. Recently I saw a $100,000 sign-on bonus. One company paid for a candidate to relocate and paid for their temporary housing for a year.

MCN: How do MSOs and programmers rate against each other in terms of recruiting in the digital age?

RH: We do a lot more work with programmers and, in general, the programmers have been a little better at it – the message is a little sexier on the programmer side vs. the operator side. But some of the MSOs are getting more forward-thinking. I think Bright House [Networks] has always been forward-thinking with its recruiting.

MCN: How critical is it for pay TV companies to get ahead of the digital/tech recruiting curve?

LK: There’s a lot to be said for what’s going on today with technology at the forefront, but if there’s no content to support, who cares? That’s what’s important on both the MSO and programmer sides. If the studios and cable ops can’t figure out what content works on emerging platforms, it will force the technology companies to start developing their own content for those platforms, and that would really hurt the industry. So they have to step up their game and race to the finish now.

GCI, the largest telecom provider in Alaska, placed a bigger bet on cloud services by acquiring Anchorage-based Network Business Systems, an Anchorage-based company that specializes in hosted and managed and IT services for commercial customers.

GCI did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but said it was closed on Thursday (August 6) And that it has offered positions to all employees of NBS, which counts tech partners such as NetApp, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and HP.

GCI said the deal will help it bring a range of cloud services to Alaska-area businesses and bolster its growing cloud services team.

“We strive to bring our business customers state-of-the-art IT options at the best value,” said Greg Pearce, vice president of business services for GCI, in a statement. “More and more businesses are realizing that cloud services are the best option for data storage, processing and security.”

Cisco Systems has dipped into the M&A pool again, this time pulling out MaintenanceNet, a privately held company that markets a cloud-based platform that uses data analytics and automation to track, manage and renew customer contracts.

Cisco will pay $139 million in cash and retention based incentives to acquire MaintenanceNet, and expects to complete the deal during the first quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2016, Debbie Dunnam, Cisco’s SVP of global customer success, noted in this blog post detailing the deal.

The acquisition follows a business history between the two companies. Since 2009, Cisco and MaintenanceNet have worked together to offer Cisco distribution and reseller partners an automated way to “improve service renewals and identify uncovered product opportunities,” Dunnam explained, noting that the solution enables automated quoting, notifications, and, ordering online.

Once the deal is closed, MaintenanceNet will join Cisco’s Global Customer Success (GCS) organization.

Carlsbad, Calif.-based MaintenanceNet was founded in 2004.

The National Cable & Television Association has issued its call for proposed case studies in the area of information technology (IT) that, if selected, will be presented at the Internet & Television Expo (INTX) – formerly known as The Cable Show -- in Chicago on May 6, 2015.

Co-sponsored by CableLabs, the May 6 session at McCormick Place  West will feature up to four individuals or partner teams offering case studies in areas that could include operational analytics, business services, customer experience, and the accelerating evolution in the data ecosystem.

INTX said proposoal abstracts are not to exceed 500 words and has set a submission deadline of  end of business on Feb. 27, 2015. More details about the IT case study program for INTX can be found here.