Zaslav to Head Discovery
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 11/19/2006 7:00:00 PM
Discovery Communications turned to an old friend in selecting a successor to Judith McHale.
NBC Universal Cable and Domestic TV and New Media Distribution president David Zaslav last Thursday was named president and CEO of the Silver Spring, Md.-based programmer. He’ll oversee its more than 100 domestic and international networks, as well as its online and wireless products.
Zaslav will remain at NBC U through year-end, as McHale announced in August she would leave the company Dec. 1, after two years as its chief executive.
| Profile |
|---|
| David Zaslav |
| New title: President and CEO, Discovery Communications. |
| Now oversees: Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Discovery Health, Travel Channel, Discovery Times, Discovery Kids, The Science Channel, Discovery Home, Military Channel, all other Discovery networks. |
| Old title: President, NBC Universal Cable and Domestic TV and New Media Distribution |
| Oversaw: NBC Universal Cable’s interests in A&E Network, The History Channel, The History Channel International, The Biography Channel, National Geographic International, the Sundance Channel and TiVo. |
| Notable: Negotiated deals with DirecTV and Comcast to provide on-demand content from NBC U’s prime time broadcast and cable shows. Pact with Time Warner Cable included VOD rights and carriage for networks such as Universal HD, Sleuth, mun2 and Telemundo Puerto Rico. NBC and NBC U programming now also part of Time Warner’s Start Over service. |
Zaslav was the second major NBC Universal executive to leave the company last week: NBC Group President Randy Falco last Wednesday announced his intentions to take the chairman and CEO position at AOL.
Falco’s departure actually paved the way for Zaslav’s move to Discovery, according to an NBC executive who wished to remain anonymous. Zaslav took advantage of a “key man” clause in his contract that allowed him to leave without penalty if his boss, Falco, departed. It was unclear how much time was left on Zaslav’s contract.
Zaslav’s long relationship with Discovery founder and chairman John Hendricks and his strong credentials in digital media during his tenure at NBC made him the perfect candidate to replace McHale, said DCI spokesman David Leavy.
Hendricks chaired the company’s CEO search committee, which included representatives from Discovery’s shareholders: Discovery Holding Co., controlled by John Malone’s Liberty Media; Advance/Newhouse Communications; Cox Communications; and Hendricks.
Zaslav beat out an internal candidate, DCI general counsel Mark Hollinger, for the position, company executives said.
Also believed to have been candidates, at least early on, were Discovery Networks U.S. president Billy Campbell and Discovery Networks International president Dawn McCall.
While Zaslav said he enjoyed is tenure at NBC U, there were myriad reasons why he found Discovery’s call impossible to resist.
“Long term, I think they have fantastic brands that will translate into a ton of value on all of these new [multimedia] platforms,” he said. “I came to the conclusion that this is a dream job. Discovery has great brands, worldwide distribution and great [content] libraries. It’s a chance to run a company and work with my mentor [Hendricks] and a fantastic board.
Zaslav takes over a company that is trying to claw its way back up the ratings ladder — particularly for its main cable networks, Discovery Channel and TLC.
Discovery averaged a 1.0 third quarter household rating, up 25% over the 0.8 rating for the same period last year, while TLC’s 0.7 rating was up 17% from a 0.6 from 2005.
But both services are well below ratings marks posted during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when specials such as Discovery’s Walking With Dinosaurs and TLC’s home-makeover series Trading Spaces were among basic cable’s top-rated shows. A failed strategy of overexposing such major hits as Spaces, and an inability to create ratings-rich new shows, stymied DCI’s growth over the last three years, before its most-recent uptick.
The company is confident Zaslav will improve Discovery’s fortunes, Leavy said. Zaslav worked with Hendricks in the 1980s as a lawyer representing the then fledgling Discovery Channel, when McHale was on maternity leave. In 1989, Zaslav moved to NBC as general counsel for its startup cable-news business.
Former NBC Cable president Tom Rogers — who, along with NBC U chairman Bob Wright, hired Zaslav — said that even then, he knew Zaslav was destined to be a key leader within the industry.
“I hired David at NBC 18 years ago, and I knew at the time he had huge potential, but little did I know he would develop into the cable industry’s best combination of strategic, deal, sales, financial, leadership and people skills,” he said.
Zaslav would serve as a key player in launching business-news channel CNBC and general news network MSNBC. He would eventually become NBC’s chief negotiator in cable-network distribution talks with operators and satellite providers.
One former Discovery Networks U.S. executive, who wished to remain anonymous, said NBC’s loss is Discovery’s huge gain.
“David is a brilliant strategist who has a real understanding of cable television and new media,” said the executive.
An NBC U executive said the network will re-evaluate Zaslav’s position before determining whether to fill it or to shift his duties among other executives within the company. Falco’s position will not be filled.
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