Skydance Reshuffles Distribution Team as Eight Executives Depart
Skydance has reshuffled the team that sells its television shows and channels to other companies, and eight executives who came from Paramount or Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) are leaving the company as a result.
Distribution is the work of getting programmes onto other companies' screens. That means deals with pay-TV operators (cable and satellite providers), streaming services and device platforms. The team covers CBS owned-and-operated stations, 55 basic cable networks, Paramount+, HBO Max, Discovery+, Pluto TV and more than 100 FAST channels. FAST stands for free ad-supported streaming television, the free channels that run on apps and smart TVs and make money from advertising.
The changes were set out in an internal memo from Ray Hopkins, Skydance's president of distribution. Reuters reviewed the memo, which was sent on Tuesday, 3 November. Variety reported the departures and the new roles on 4 November.
The most senior change is shared. Sarah Bergman, most recently WBD's executive vice president of networks and streaming distribution, and Mickey Carter, formerly Paramount's executive vice president of distribution, will both hold the title of executive vice president of distribution. They will split the work of negotiating distribution agreements and managing partnerships between them.
Several other roles have been filled. Brad Shipley has become executive vice president of business development and strategy. His remit covers strategy, new growth partnerships, Pluto TV and FAST distribution, advanced advertising partnerships, and business planning and analytics. Patrick Cavanaugh is now executive vice president and chief financial officer for distribution finance, and he leads the economics of all linear and streaming negotiations. Linear means traditional channels that run on a fixed schedule. Rick Baker has been named executive vice president and deputy general counsel for distribution, overseeing business and legal affairs across linear and streaming.
Eight executives are leaving: Rivka Golomb, Kelly Kane, Jeff Cross, Rich Palermo, David Comisar, Kurt Davis, Deena Demasi and Ken Kay. Cross will leave his role but stay on as a senior adviser to the distribution business. Scott Miller, who had been WBD's president of networks and streaming distribution, also exited the company when Hopkins was appointed.
Hopkins reports to JB Perrette, who is co-chair and chief business officer of Skydance TV and Skydance Direct-to-Consumer. Deadline reported in late October that Perrette had unveiled a leadership team for Skydance TV, and that Olivier Jollet, Will Gurman and Kevin Kroll would report into a new role in the TV and streaming structure.
The reshuffle comes as the two companies work to combine. Skydance executives have set a target of $6 billion in annualised cost savings from bringing Paramount and WBD together. Annualised means the saving is measured over a full year. No timetable for reaching that figure was included in the memo.
For anyone who watches these channels and apps, the changes are mostly out of sight. They alter who negotiates the agreements that decide which services carry which shows, and where those shows appear on a remote control. Those deals are the reason a series reaches a viewer's living room at all.
