Skydance names ad sales, content and distribution chiefs after merger
Skydance has put three executives in charge of how its television makes money and reaches viewers, just days after its big merger became official. Jay Askinasi will lead advertising sales, David Decker will head content sales, meaning licensing shows and films to other broadcasters and streamers, and Ray Hopkins will oversee distribution, meaning getting channels and on-demand services to audiences.
All three will report to JB Perrette, co-chair and chief business officer of Skydance TV and Skydance DTC. DTC stands for direct-to-consumer, the streaming services that go straight to viewers without a cable company in the middle. In television, that reporting line matters. It decides who signs off deals and who answers for revenue.
Askinasi and Hopkins will also sit on the Skydance Executive Leadership Team, the small group that runs the wider company, according to Variety. Decker was named as President, Content Sales, Hopkins as President, Distribution, and Askinasi as Chief Revenue Officer – Advertising.
The appointments land at the start of a new company. Skydance was formed from the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal was expected to close on 6 Oct, as reported by Variety, and took effect on Tuesday, according to CNN. The new sales structure was announced on 8 Oct.
In advertising, the change brings a clear break. Ryan Gould and Robert “Bobby” Voltaggio, who were presidents of US advertising sales at Warner Bros. Discovery, will leave the company. Those roles covered selling commercial time across channels and streaming outlets. Askinasi now takes the revenue brief for the combined group.
Content sales and distribution sound similar, but they do different jobs. Content sales shops individual shows and films to outside buyers, from broadcast networks to rival streamers. Distribution agrees carriage, the deals that keep a channel or app available on pay-TV systems and platforms.
For viewers, this is backstage business with front-row effects. These are the teams that sell the ad breaks, cut the licensing deals that decide where a show can be watched, and keep services on the air. Crews keep working. Writers’ rooms keep writing. But who sells and places the finished work has changed.
