Three president-level television executives are stepping down from their Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) posts as part of a major shakeup under chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra.
First, Keith Le Goy will take over for Man Jit Singh, who departs as president of SPE Home Entertainment. Additionally, Andy Kaplan is stepping down as president of Worldwide Networks and Sheraton Kalouria is out as president and chief marketing officer for Sony Pictures Television (SPT).
And going forward, all SPT networks will now report directly to Hulu alum Mike Hopkins. Marketing will also be impacted, with each dedicated team now directly reporting to the business unit they support.
The reorganization is intended to make SPE’s business operations “nimbler,” according to Vinciquerra.
“I realize these changes are significant and will be an adjustment for many of you, but they are important in our efforts to strengthen SPE overall and make it more agile and competitive in today’s fast-moving environment,” he wrote in an internal memo obtained by TheWrap. “We will be meeting with each of the impacted business units in the days ahead to discuss the restructure and answer questions you might have.”
Read Vinciquerra’s Tuesday memo to his staff below, laying out the changes.
Good afternoon,
I wanted to make you all aware of some important structural and leadership changes taking place within our television and home entertainment businesses. As you will see, the changes below represent a significant restructuring of some traditional business models and processes that have been in place at the studio for years. Our decision to rethink the way we operate these units was driven by our goals to streamline SPE’s business operations, making them nimbler and better aligned with a rapidly-evolving industry.Home Entertainment
I am pleased to announce that Keith Le Goy, our President of Distribution for Sony Pictures Television, will be expanding his oversight to also include Home Entertainment. Keith has been with SPE for over 18 years and has expertly managed distribution of Sony Pictures’ film, television and other content to all media platforms – from broadcast, satellite, and cable, to digital and electronic delivery, including video-on-demand, subscription-video-on-demand, electronic sell-through, and mobile. The expansion of Keith’s oversight is not only recognition of his leadership strength and success in this space, but also of the changing landscape of the home entertainment sector, which continues to shift from physical to digital, and increasingly to markets around the world. Keith’s global experience is unmatched in our industry and he is the perfect fit to reorient our home entertainment business to align with the realities of today’s marketplace. Keith will now have a dual report. He will continue to report to Mike Hopkins, our new SPT Chairman, for SPT distribution, and to Tom Rothman, Chairman of our Motion Picture Group, on MPG home entertainment business.With this move, Man Jit Singh will be stepping down as President of SPE Home Entertainment. I want to thank Man Jit for guiding our home entertainment business through years of unprecedented change, and in helping to build our robust networks business in India, where he once served as CEO of Sony Pictures Networks India. His efforts in India have contributed immeasurably to SPE’s current strength in that fast-growing market.
SPT Networks
We are also realigning the reporting structure in our Worldwide Networks business. Moving forward, our networks business will now report directly to Mike Hopkins.With this restructure, Andy Kaplan will be stepping down as President of Worldwide Networks. I want to thank Andy for his years of service and hard work at SPE. Under his leadership, our networks business has grown tremendously, currently operating in 178 countries, with 101 channels and 189 feeds – reaching nearly 2 billion people. His strategic management of the networks group and its key assets – including Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Crackle, GSN, AXN, ANIMAX, Sony Channel, and our entire portfolio in India – has kept SPT Networks a vital part of SPE’s overall business.
SPT Marketing
Finally, will be reorganizing the reporting lines in SPT marketing. Moving forward, each of our dedicated SPT marketing teams will report directly to the business units they support. Specifically, as follows:
- U.S. Distribution Marketing, International Production and Distribution Marketing, and Creative Services will now report to Keith Le Goy’s group;
- Franchise and Consumer Products Marketing, and Publicity and Talent Relations will now report to Jeff Frost’s group;
- Event Planning and Marketing Advertiser Sales will now report into Amy Carney’s group.
With this restructuring, Sheraton Kalouria will be stepping down as President and Chief Marketing Officer for SPT. Over the past eight years, Sheraton has built SPT marketing into a world-class, global operation. He deserves enormous credit for showcasing the strength and vitality of SPT and its content in markets around the world, and I want to thank him for his leadership and commitment to the studio.
I realize these changes are significant and will be an adjustment for many of you, but they are important in our efforts to strengthen SPE overall and make it more agile and competitive in today’s fast-moving environment. We will be meeting with each of the impacted business units in the days ahead to discuss the restructure and answer questions you might have.
Please join me in thanking Man Jit, Andy and Sheraton for their outstanding contributions to SPE and in wishing Keith continued success.
Tony