FearNet Joins Comcast Entertainment Group In Move To L.A.
Robina Remains President Of Online, On-Demand Horror Service
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 1/6/2009 3:38:00 AM
FearNet, the on-demand and online horror service, has relocated to Los Angeles and has been folded into the Comcast Entertainment Group, Comcast’s programming arm, officials said Tuesday.
A joint venture of Comcast, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate, FearNet had previously been based in Philadelphia, where Comcast is headquartered.
As part of the Comcast Entertainment Group – which oversees the company's West Coast entertainment properties, including E! Entertainment Television, The Style Network and G4 -- FearNet will be put under the wing of Ted Harbert, president and CEO of the group.
Diane Robina will continue to serve as president of FearNet, but she will now report to Harbert, instead of Jeff Shell, who is president of the Comcast Programming Group.
“FearNet has grown to become a successful new network and Diane Robina has done a terrific job to pioneer the multi-platform brand concept,” Shell said in a statement. “This move to Los Angeles will enable the network to take advantage of new opportunities to grow content, distribution and advertising. FearNet will benefit from being closer to our partners and our West-coast based networks under Ted Harbert, who has a remarkable track record of growing successful entertainment brands.”
FearNet is now located at 5750 Wilshire Boulevard along with E!, Style, G4 and Comcast International Media Group.
Since launching in 2006, FearNet has achieved enormous growth, attracting all major cable operators to carry the network, as well as top advertisers across various industries. FEARnet VOD channel and the FEARnet.com Web site have catapulted past the 200 million video views mark. Driving the growth has been the network’s mix of professionally produced original webisode series and its large library of feature-length horror and thriller favorites from some of the biggest Hollywood studios.
"Moving to Los Angeles will allow us to build on the momentum we've achieved by bringing us closer to the Hollywood community and to our partners, Sony Pictures Television and Lionsgate," Robina said in a statement.
With more than 1,000 horror and thriller titles, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate’s libraries include the best, the edgiest and the most celebrated films of the genre. FearNet.com currently ranks as the No. 1 horror Web site and FearNet On Demand is one of the top five VOD networks.
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