Bryan Named President of MGM's Syndie Division

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

John Bryan has been promoted to president of MGM Domestic Television Distribution, overseeing the studio's domestic television sales as well as new digital networks This TV and ME TV. He will report to MGM's new co-chairmen and CEOs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum.

Bryan's promotion comes in light of Jim Packer's departure. Packer left MGM last month to become Lionsgate's president of worldwide television distribution and digital.

Bryan joined MGM in 2006 after 17 years at Buena Vista Television where he ultimately rose to the position of executive vice president of sales. While at Buena Vista -- now Disney-ABC -- Bryan sold such shows as According to Jim, My Wife and Kids, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Home Improvement.

Prior to that, Bryan served as executive director at MTM Enterprises. There, he worked on such shows as Remington Steele and St. Elsewhere.

Bryan also served as director of sales at Warner Brothers Television. He began his career as an account executive at Turner Broadcasting where he helped launch CNN.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.