Peter Liguori Mulling Exit From Discovery
Jan. 19, 2012, would mark Peter Liguori’s second year anniversary at Discovery Communications but he may not be there to celebrate it. Deadline.com reports the veteran TV executive is considering leaving Discovery, where he serves as COO, before the end of the year.
Oprah Winfrey’s troubled cable network is hitting the reset button. After struggling to get viewers and burning through money, her partner in the channel, Discovery Communications, is investing millions more to promote OWN and expose it to new viewers, sources say.
Discovery’s Bourbon Deal Leaves Bad Taste
Discovery Channel once took great pride in ambitious programs that enlightened audiences about the mysteries of Earth. Now it takes great pride in being the first television network to carry ads for Maker’s Mark bourbon. Discovery had revenue of almost $3.8 billion last year. Surely it can grow that number without giving its viewers and its brand a hangover.
Named to replace Norman at the helm of the Oprah-inspired Discovery Communications network is Discovery COO Peter Liquori. The shakeup is only the latest bump for OWN, which debuted a year later than scheduled and has struggled for ratings while burning through money.
Exclusives
NEW YORK (AP) — Discovery Communications Inc. is launching a television network for rich guys and their toys. Called Velocity, the new network will replace the current network HD Theater […]
David Zaslav, chief executive of Discovery Communications Inc., was awarded a compensation package valued at $42.6 million in 2010 — more than triple his compensation for the previous year.
Time Warner Cable pulled 12 networks from Discovery Communications, Fox Cable Networks and Viacom off its iPad streaming-video application on Thursday — after those companies complained that the service violated the terms of their distribution agreements — although the MSO continues to insist it has the right to deliver that programming to the tablets.
Discovery Communications is budgeting another $50 million for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Channel and is evaluating a possible rebranding of its Military Channel and Planet Green channel, pushing forward a strategy that has had early success for the cable programmer.
The Discovery Fit & Health cable network will launch on Feb. 1. It will be found on the channel currently occupied by FitTV, which is available in approximately 50 million homes.
Given all the media attention around the Jan. 1 launch of OWN — the cable network owned by daytime talk queen Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications — there are probably over-the-top expectations that the channel will explode right out of the box. Odds are that won’t be the case.
