MGM named former Participant Media executive Ted Lim senior vice president, strategic planning and corporate development. He will report to MGM chief operating officer Chris Brearton.

In his new positon, Lim will oversee deal execution, collaborate on implementing ongoing growth initiatives, formulate new business models, and identify new partnerships and opportunities.

“Ted’s specialized background in strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and integration makes him an essential addition to our management team as MGM embarks on an aggressive and innovative growth strategy,” Brearton said in a statement.

Lim previously served as senior vice president of strategy and business development at Participant Media. During his tenure, Lim played a key role in Participant’s investment in Amblin Partners, the acquisition of digital short form video company SoulPancake and its expansion into television series production. 

Prior to Participant Media, Lim was an executive in the corporate strategy and business development team at The Walt Disney Co., where he helped manage the company’s investment in Hulu, including its $750 million recapitalization in 2013, and its acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012. Lim started his career as a management consultant at Bain & Co.

“The opportunity to join MGM during this time of growth for the legacy studio is incredibly exhilarating,” Lim said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Chris and the talented senior management team to help expand and drive growth in 2018 and beyond as we continue into this new phase of innovation.”

Netflix will team with filmmaker Ava DuVernay to develop a limited series depicting the controversial Central Park Five case, the OTT service announced Thursday.

Each part of the five-episode series, which will launch on Netflix in 2019, will focus on one of the five teenagers from Harlem – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise – who wrongly convicted of raping Trisha Meili in New York's Central Park in 1989. The series will span from when each were first questioned about the incident to 2014 when they were exonerated and a settlement was reached with the city of New York.

“This is one of the most talked-about cases of our time and Ava’s passionate vision and masterful direction will bring the human stories behind the headlines to life in this series,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President, Original Content for Netflix in a statement “After powerfully reframing the public conversation about criminality and injustice in 13TH, Ava now turns a new lens to a case that exposes deep flaws in our criminal justice system.” 

The series will be executive produced by Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey/Harpo Films, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh from Tribeca Productions, and DuVernay, said Netflix.

Participant Media will shut down its thre- year-old Pivot network as part of a company restructuring effort, the company said Wednesday.

The service, which launched in 2013 with a focus on targeting millennials with original scripted and realirty content, will be disbanded after struggling to gain a foothold in what is a challenging cable tv landscape for independent networks, Participant Media CEO David Linde said in a statement.

RELATED: Pivot general manager Kent Rees on Pivot's outreach to millennials

Participant launched Pivot in 2013 after buying and then combining Documentary Channel and Halogen TV to create the service. 

"As the media landscape changes, we have been evaluating how we fulfill our mission to entertain and inspire social action around the world's most pressing issues,” Linde said. “That process has led us to the decision to move away from owning and operating a cable network.

The announcement, first reported by Variety, will allow Participant to focus on developing content. "While this conclusion was not an easy one, it is ultimately in the best interest of all our stakeholders, and allows us to allocate more resources toward the production of compelling content across all platforms," said Linde in a statement. 

Ovation TV has hired Participant Media executive Mike Kim as senior vice president, content distribution. He reports to content distribution executive vice president John Malkin and Ovation said he will work with Malkin on maintaining and renewing existing national accounts and securing distribution for the network with non-affiliated national accounts, including TV-everywhere, video-on-demand and streaming platforms. He will also be responsible for managing and securing incremental distribution with National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) accounts. 

At Participant Media he was vice president, affiliate distribution and partnerships and played a key role in the launch and growth of Pivot. Before joining Participant he was VP of  affiliate sales and marketing, Western Division, for Outdoor Channel, overseeing sales and marketing for cable systems in 18 states. Earlier in his career he was a distribution executive at Fox Cable Networks; Tennis Channel and Showtime Networks.

“Mike’s extensive experience in multi-platform content distribution will be critical to our success as we continue to expand our footprint and range of distributor partnerships,” Malkin said in a release. “He understands the challenges and advantages of being part of an independent network in today’s ever-changing media environment and will be a great asset in helping us capitalize on the myriad of opportunities in front of us.”