A+E Adds Former NBC Sales Exec Hoffman

Jim Hoffman, once in charge of ad sale for NBC’s primetime entertainment programming, has joined A+E Networks.

Hoffman’s new title will be executive VP, program partnerships and strategic initiatives. He will report to Peter Olsen, executive VP, ads sales at A+E.

After more than 20 yearS, he left NBC last September. NBCU had been restructuring its ad sales organization, combining broadcast, cable and digital, introducing new data-based ad products and building up its client partnership efforts.

A+E has been battling declining ratings at its cable networks. As 2015 nears its end, History is down 25% from a year ago among 18-to-49-year-olds in primetime, A&E is off 26% and Lifetime is down 6%.

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.