Ford Drives Back to Discovery Nets
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 9/9/2007 8:00:00 PM
Former Discovery Communications new-media executive John Ford is coming back to run Discovery outlets Military Channel and Discovery Times Channel.
He'll oversee the creative and business strategy, including programming, operations and new-media content, for Military Channel, with 48 million subscribers, and Discovery Times, in 47 million homes.
Ford left Discovery in 2003 to become National Geographic Channel's executive vice president of programming and production. He then left Nat Geo this past March to start his own production company.
“This was not my plan,” Ford said of his career zigzag. “But [Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav's] vision of the company, what he was doing and what he planned to do was so compelling, I decided to move in with Discovery again. I'm delighted to be back.”
Ford said it's too early to determine what changes he'll make, if any, at the networks.
He said, though, that both outlets are progressing well, from a ratings and content perspective.
Discovery says that year-to-date, Military Channel's total-day viewership is up 57% versus the same time period in 2006, to 72,000 from 46,000.
Discovery Times is up 143% by that measure, to 90,000 from 37,000, making the latter “the fastest-growing of all ad-supported cable networks,” the company said.
That channel had been, from 2002 to 2006, a joint venture with The New York Times Co. before the Times opted, as part of its original agreement, to sell its 50% stake back to Discovery for $100 million.
Before that it was called Discovery Civilization.
Military Channel used to be Discovery Wings before it was renamed and refocused in January 2005.
“The good news is that both channels are strong brands that are getting good ratings increases so the momentum is good,” according to Ford. “The distribution is strong and I think we have an opportunity to continue the growth of both networks.”
Clint Stinchcomb, who had headed up the networks Ford inherits, still oversees Discovery's HD Theater service and Turbo Media, the multiplatform, multimedia initiative focused on all things motorized.
Both report to Bruce Campbell, president of digital media, emerging networks and business development.
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