Jim Weiss Named Comm. SVP For Bounce, Katz

Longtime television industry public relations executive Jim Weiss today was named senior vice president, corporate communications for Bounce Media and Katz Broadcasting.

Weiss will oversee all public relations, publicity and media relations efforts for Bounce TV, the over-the-air TV network for African Americans, as well as Katz Broadcasting  female-centric and male-centric diginets, Escape (women) and Grit (men), which are scheduled to launch this summer. 

Weiss has been in television communications and PR for more than 25 years, working for AMC, Boomerang, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CNN, Fox Sports, GMC, HLN, IFC, Turner Classic Movies, TNT, TBS, WE: Women’s Entertainment, and most recently Bounce TV. 

Weiss is based in Atlanta and reports to Jonathan Katz, president-CEO of Katz Broadcasting and COO of Bounce TV.  “Jim has played critical roles in helping more than a dozen popular television networks launch, grow and become successful.  He has been instrumental in helping Bounce TV become one of the television industry’s most recent success stories,” said Katz. “His breadth of network PR experience and industry savvy is extremely rare and we are thankful to have him as we continue to grow Bounce while launching Escape and Grit.”

Weiss most recently was VP, communications and public relations for entertainment and sports marketing agency CSE. Previously, he was VP of public relations and public affairs at GMC (formerly Gospel Music Channel). Before that, Weiss ran PR for two of the largest regional sports networks in the country, FSN South and SportSouth, owned by Fox Sports Networks.

Weiss also served as SVP of corporate communications and marketing for Rainbow Media Holdings (now AMC Networks).  He spent 11 years with Turner Broadcasting System in ascending PR positions, including SVP of corporate communications. He served as VP of PR for Turner Network Television  and also launched Turner Classic Movies as the network’s first head of publicity. At various points in his Turner tenure, Weiss also handled PR for such Turner properties as CNN Headline News, CNN Newsource and CNN Airport Network, among others.

Weiss began his career as director of public relations for American Movie Classics, Bravo and regional sports channels across the country.