Charter Communications recently signaled an entry into the original content space, signing deals with AMC Networks and Viacom in the past few months to co-produce original series. Now, the cable giant has tapped seasoned TV executive Katherine Pope to lead its original content efforts.
In this newly created role, Pope will oversee all original programming, including the creation and launch of Charter’s upcoming slate of new shows available first on our platform. Based in Los Angeles, Pope will oversee Charter’s announced original content partnerships with AMC and Viacom, along with other partnerships established in the future. She will report to David Ellen, Senior EVP.
“We are very pleased and incredibly excited to have Katherine Pope leading original content creation for Charter,” said Ellen. “Katherine’s creativity, strategic prowess, and wealth of industry knowledge will play an instrumental role in positioning Charter as an industry leader in the creation and distribution of high-quality, original entertainment that will further differentiate Charter’s market-leading video products in ways that create value and drive subscribership.”
Charter, the No. 2 U.S. cable operator, has important systems in the New York and Los Angeles markets, so offers a significant emerging content platform.
“I’m excited to partner with networks, studios, and creators to build a high-quality original content experience for Charter’s wide-reaching and diverse audience,” said Pope. “I look forward to working with David and the extraordinary team at Charter.”
Pope most recently ran the TV division of Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8. Before that, Pope ran the television division of Peter Chernin’s company, which had a rich deal at 20th Century Fox TV with series commitments at Fox. It yielded the popular Fox comedy series New Girls, which is wrapping a seven-season run on Fox.
Before teaming up with Chernin, Pope did a 10-year stint at NBC. She joined NBC Studios as a primetime series associate and then rose through the ranks to EVP at NBC and president of NBC Universal Television Studio before exiting in the 2008 executive shakeup at the network. Among the shows she oversaw was drama Heroes.
Charter, which counts savvy billionaire John Malone as a key stakeholder, is among many cable operators looking to provide content that can stem the tide of cord-cutters ending their pay-TV subscriptions. Altice USA, Comcast and Verizon FiOS have recently set similar deals with cable programmers such as A&E, Viacom and AMC.
