CBS confirmed a Multichannel News inquiry that Bob Rose, the longtime executive vice president of distribution at CBS Sports Network, left the company amid the changeover in distribution oversight under Ray Hopkins, the former YES Networks and Fox distribution executive who was hired as president of television networks distribution this past June.
In the past month, CBS announced that Hopkins had hired as senior vice presidents under him two former Fox distribution executives, Jonathan Sarrow (on Oct. 14) and Mickey Carter (today). Marty Franks, CBS's longtime retransmission-consent negotiator, also retired as of Sept. 30 from his post as EVP of planning, policy and government affairs.
A CBS spokesperson said Rose left "a few weeks ago" as under the new structure deals for the sports network would not be done individually but as part of deals done by Hopkins, Sarrow and Carter.
Under Rose, since 2006, CBS Sports Network (formerly CBS College Sports Network) grew in distribution from 11 million subscribers to 53 million subscribers, according to his bio on the CBS Sports Network site and a network rep. That growth was despite the channel's general lack of marquee sports properties and generally not benefiting from retransmission-consent tie-ins with CBS network.
Earlier in his career, Rose was EVP of affiliate relations at Court TV, leading the distribution efforts of the channel for 14 years, during which the legal-affairs-focused outlet grew to 85.8 million subscribers. Before that he worked at Sesame Street and at USA Networks, according to his bio.
