CBS Exec Enters Distribution, Production

Veteran CBS executive Scott Koondel has announced plans to launch a new independent production and distribution company. He will transition in December to his new venture after serving as executive vice president, chief corporate content licensing officer and other senior executive positions at CBS since 2006.

Koondel’s new venture will package, produce and license programming for broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. He will also advise media companies on M&A initiatives and business strategies for licensing to MVPDs and direct-to-consumer services. The company will be launched at CBS Studio Center in Studio City under a first-look arrangement with CBS.

“I am proud of what we have been able to achieve during my 25 years at CBS and Paramount,” said Koondel. “As I look to the future, I am excited to have the opportunity to pursue something more entrepreneurial, with the freedom and flexibility to cast a wider net within the industry. I am grateful that this venture will allow me to combine my passions for content creation, distribution and exploitation in a new and dynamic way. Through the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many talented executives at CBS, and it’s a privilege to maintain these relationships as I launch my venture on the historic CBS Radford lot.”

“Scott has a passion for quality programming and licensing television content in creative ways,” said Joe Ianniello, president and acting CEO, CBS Corp. “He brings an entrepreneurial spirit to the distribution business that has greatly benefitted CBS and its programming for more than a decade. We thank him for these accomplishments and wish him much continued success as he launches his new venture.”

At CBS, Koondel orchestrated groundbreaking licensing agreements for The CW programming with Hulu and Netflix. He worked with CBS Television Studios to establish a new model to finance original scripted summer programming by licensing upfront streaming windows. He also packaged and created the sales marketing strategy for original programming, such as the return of America’s Next Top Model (VH1), Hip Hop Squares (VH1), Drop the Mic (TBS), Carpool Karaoke (Apple) and Just Another Immigrant (Showtime).

Koondel has been CBS’s chief content licensing officer since 2012. Previously, as president of distribution for CBS Television, he developed multiplatform distribution deals for off-network programming and played a key role in the integration of Spelling Entertainment, Worldvision and Rysher into the CBS television portfolio.

Before CBS, Koondel oversaw distribution for Paramount Pictures’ theatrical features and its library of more than 3,600 titles, and held executive positions at Tribune Television, A&E Cable Networks and Cox Communications.

Koondel attended Cornell University and Syracuse University. He was an adjunct professor at New York University, and he frequently guest-lectures at the Syracuse S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

In 2007 he was named one of Mediaweeks’s top 10 most influential media executives.