MGM HD Staffs Up After Carriage Deals

The MGM HD channel is staffing up, after signing carriage deals with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Dish Network.

The programmer said it hired Gracelyn Brown (pictured) as vice president of programming, overseeing programming and scheduling for the channel and related video-on-demand service. She had been director of programming at KTLA in Los Angeles.

It also hired Bernard Nguyen-Sovan joins as manager of programming from WCSN (World Champion Sports Network) in Los Angeles, where he was traffic manager; and Doug Chalfant as executive creative director, from Reelz Channel in Los Angeles, where was director of creative marketing solutions. Chalfant also worked at E! Entertainment, SOAPnet, Fox Kids, Lifetime, The Disney Channel, FX Networks, Fine Living and The Food Network. 

Mark Zelenz was hired as executive director of affiliate sales. He’ll oversee distribution deals with cable, satellite and telco affiliates on the East Coast.  He comes from his own consulting company Elephant in the Room.TV, where he represented companies including The Horror Channel, Elite Entertainment and Renegade Productions. He is a former vice president of media distribution at Bloomberg Television and is based in New York.

And Nicole Mulholland was hired as account executive, advertiser sales, from Yahoo in New York.