Margaret Loesch, formerly the head of the Fox Kids Network, has been named as the president/CEO of the yet-to-be-named Hasbro/Discovery Children network set to premiere in fall 2010.
The network will reach approximately 60 million U.S. households on what is currently the Discovery Kids channel.
Loesch has worked on the development and production of popular kids shows like the "Smurfs," "Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers" "Animaniacs" and "Transformers."
She became the founding president and CEO of Fox Kids Network Worldwide in 1990, and helped to launch the international expansion of the network. Later, she served as the president and CEO of Crown Media U.S., overseeing the creation of Hallmark Channel. Recently, she co-founded the family media company The Hatchery.
Loesch will begin Aug. 17 and will be based in Los Angeles.
"Margaret’s experience and accomplishments speak for themselves," Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav said in a statement. "She has not only succeeded
time and time again in the children’s and family entertainment space but also she has demonstrated a true passion for the type of high-quality content that is at the heart of Hasbro’s and Discovery’s missions."
Loesch is also on the board of trustees of Sesame Workshop, which produces educational children’s programs like "Sesame Street" and on the advisory board of the Coalition ofr Quality Children’s Media.
Announced in April, the channel will feature shows based on toys like G.I. Joe, Transformers and My Little Pony. The station will also continue to air current programming from Discovery Kids.
Hasbro has said it is also hoping to develop programming based on games like Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit.
