Sci Fi Promotes Howe to President
Hammer Also to Retain President Title
Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 1/16/2008 1:38:00 AM
Dave Howe has been named president of Sci Fi Channel, officials said Wednesday.
Previously, Howe held the title of Sci Fi general manager and executive vice president. But in an unusual situation, Howe’s boss, Bonnie Hammer, will retain her titles of president of both USA Network and Sci Fi Channel, although Howe will now be running Sci Fi and its original programming unit will now report to him, not Hammer.
Howe will oversee original development, programming and marketing, global brand strategy and market development, strategic planning, Sci Fi digital (Scifi.com, Sci Fi Pulse, DVice.com), Sci Fi Magazine, media relations and Sci Fi’s recently launched public-affairs initiative, “Visions for Tomorrow.”
In addition, Howe is charged with launching a new global brand identity for the network and driving Sci Fi’s continuing strategy to expand and diversify its business portfolio beyond broadcast and digital media into new affinity areas such as video games, mobile content, licensing and merchandising and the youth market.
Appointed the channel’s general manager and executive vice president in July 2004, Howe had served as executive vice president of marketing and brand strategy since he joined the company in September 2001.
Since becoming general manager, Howe has overseen the launch of some of Sci Fi’s most successful and ground-breaking programming, including Tin Man — which was ad-supported cable’s top entertainment telecast among 25-to-54-year-old adults in more than two years, as well as the most-watched telecast in channel history — and the critically acclaimed, Peabody award-winning series Battlestar Galactica.
Howe has been instrumental in shaping Sci Fi’s pioneering digital strategy, overseeing the launch of a successful new broadband channel, Sci Fi Pulse, and exclusive digital programming, as well as a new technology blog, DVice, and the genre’s first user-generated database of knowledge on all things sci-fi fantasy, the Scifipedia.
Prior to joining Sci Fi, Howe spent 15 years at the British Broadcasting Corp. in London, most recently as head of the BBC’s on-air marketing and creative services division (now part of Red Bee Media), where he is credited with building the BBC’s multi-award-winning in-house creative team, which has delivered acclaimed on- and off-air campaigns, as well as world-class branding for the BBC’s 17 United Kingdom and international TV channels, including BBC America, BBC World and the flagship U.K. broadcast channels, BBC One and BBC Two.
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