Discovery Communications’ President and CEO David Zaslav announced a reorganization of the company’s U.S. networks on Thursday.
Discovery Channel President Rich Ross (pictured) will become president of a new portfolio group made up of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel. Animal Planet’s General Manager Rick Holzman will now report to Ross, as will Science Channel’s Rita Mullin.
Discovery Life Channel is being integrated into the TLC team, led by Executive Vice President Nancy Daniels. TLC’s EVP of Development and Production, Howard Lee, will serve as Discovery Life’s general manager.
Henry Schleiff will continue as Group President of Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel (AHC) and Destination America. Kevin Bennett will continue as General Manager of ID and EVP of Programming for the portfolio.
Jane Latman, currently General Manager of Discovery Life Channel, will become general manager of AHC in addition to her duties as SVP of Development for ID. Marc Etkind, will continue as general manager of Destination America.
Additionally, Bob Scanlon has been named general manager of Velocity and Automotive Content.
“This strategic realignment positions Discovery well to drive our content engine across platforms here in the U.S. and worldwide, and creates the strongest pairings of creative talent to develop, program and lead these new brand groups now and into the future,” Zaslav said. “I believe some of Discovery’s best stories are yet to be told and I look forward to the growth and further development for each of our U.S. brands for years to come under this team’s strong creative leadership.”