AMC Networks has promoted UMC’s Brett Dismuke to general manager, UMC and WE tv, the company announced Thursday.
The move gives Dismuke oversight of the cable channel as well as the streaming service for which he previously served as chief content officer. He takes over for former WE tv president Mark Juris, who announced plans to step down back in October. Sylvia George, the former general manager of UMC, will move to a new role at the company, leading performance marketing across all of the company’s targeted streaming services.
The move marks an effort by AMC to further align UMC and WE tv, both of which target Black audiences. The two previously platforms crossed over with UMC airing exclusive content tied to the WE tv series “Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition,” as well as with UMC serving as the streaming home for several of WE tv’s original series.
Dismuke will report to Miguel Penella, president of SVOD for AMC Networks. Penella reports to Chief Operating Officer Ed Carroll.
“We have aspirations to make UMC the leading streaming service in the world serving Black viewers with compelling and high-quality content, and WE tv is already the #1 cable network with Black women and adults on Thursday and the #1 cable entertainment network with women 18-49 and 25-54 on Fridays,” said Ed Carroll, chief operating officer of AMC Networks. “These are two successful businesses we believe will be even better positioned to serve viewers and take advantage of changing consumer behavior when working more closely together, under common leadership.”
“UMC is a unique and focused streaming service that has been growing rapidly on the strength of its original programming and relationships with an expanding universe of loyal subscribers,” Penella said. “Putting UMC and WE tv under a common leadership team, run by Brett, is a strategic move we believe will allow us to leverage strong programming franchises that exist on both platforms, build new ones and enhance the collaboration that is already happening between UMC and WE tv, with significant benefits to our company, our partners and, most of all, the viewers we serve and entertain.”
“The strong growth we have achieved at UMC is based on our ability to dial into the lives our subscribers are living and deliver stories and content that they care about,” Dismuke said. “The same is true of WE tv, a network that has been successful by bringing fans real and relatable shows, stories and characters. Now we have the ability to further explore the synergies that exist between these two dynamic platforms and build on the success UMC and WE tv have already achieved, with great content at the core of everything we do. We have fans watching, now it’s time to surprise them in a great way and raise the stakes. I’m so excited for this opportunity and for the great things we can do together.”
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