Travel Channel and the newly relaunched Fox Movie Channel have both lost their general managers to the world of new media, officials said last week.
Jay Feldman, executive vice president and general manager of Travel, is leaving to pursue opportunities in new media, eyeing broadband programming in particular.
And Steve Carcano, general manager of Fox Movie Channel, also resigned to seek his fortune in the world of broadband and interactive television.
Feldman, a veteran of CBS Corp.-owned TV stations and a turnaround specialist, joined Travel in January 1998, shortly after Discovery Communications Inc. acquired the struggling network from Paxson Communications Corp.
Feldman was responsible for overseeing the revamping of Travel's programming. During his tenure, the network has grown impressively. It gained 12 million subscribers last year alone, and now has 39.6 million subscribers.
Feldman said he has enjoyed his successful tenure at Travel, but he's eager to pursue opportunities in new media. He added that he's been fascinated with the Internet before it was even called the Internet, and wants to be able to carefully weigh different options.
"I need time to explore each one," Feldman said.
Carcano had a five-year tenure at Fox Channels Group in various positions, with the past year as general manager of FXM: Movies from Fox, which was renamed Fox Movie Channel and relaunched in March.
Prior to his appointment as general manager of Fox Movie Channel, Carcano held positions at Fox including vice president of local ad sales, vice president of Eastern region affiliate sales and vice president of business development. Fox Movie Channel reaches 10 million homes.
Before joining Fox, Carcano had stints at E! Entertainment Television, Disney Channel and Rainbow Programming Holdings Inc.
"It seemed to be a good time to leave," Carcano said. "[New media is] a very exciting world. The pull is so strong."
Fox Movie Channel has not yet named a replacement for Carcano, but the hunt is on for his successor. At Travel, Discovery Networks U.S. vice president of operations Mark Kozaki will take over in the interim until Feldman's replacement is found.
Meanwhile, last Thursday, former Lifetime Television CEO Doug McCormick popped up as president of iVillage Inc., owner of the women-centric Web site iVillage.com.
McCormick, who was already an iVillage director, will handle the company's day-to-day operations, reporting to CEO Candice Carpenter. He left Lifetime in January 1999 after the network's board decided not to renew his contract.
