Tribune has lost another senior executive as Clark Morehouse has joined digital network .2 after leaving his position as head of Tribune Entertainment. Pronounced "dot-2," the network launches Dec. 8, offering entertainment programming on stations' digital channels.
Morehouse, who left Tribune in early July, joins other recent high-level departures, including WGN Chicago General Manager Tom Ehlmann, WGN America General Manager Bill Shaw and Tribune Broadcasting Executive VP John Vitanovec, who left last week. Morehouse's title was executive VP and general manager of Tribune Entertainment.
Morehouse is now senior VP and chief revenue officer at .2, which is owned by Guardian Enterprise Group. He told B&C he started looking around when Tribune began shutting down its syndication business, and found a match in .2, which he'd done business with as a program supplier. He liked that .2 had a startup quality to it, but was backed by a group of experienced broadcasters. (Guardian recently sold WSFJ Columbus, Ohio.)
"They'd been in the broadcast business and had a functionality that other startups couldn't match," Morehouse says.
Based in New York, Morehouse says his primary role is to "essentially deliver revenue." The business model of .2 involves sharing revenue from paid programming with stations. As stations extend their reach with digital channels, they look to multicast options like .2, Retro TV Network (RTN) and LATV. According to Morehouse, the network will reach 30% of the country at launch.
Morehouse says he's energized by his new mission. "I'm excited to build something from the ground up," he says. "This is exactly what I was looking for, and I'm glad I found them."
