02/21/2018

Charter says originals will ‘differentiate the Spectrum experience’ following Pope hire

Charter Communications shed a little light on its next steps following what appears to be a somewhat groundbreaking hire for the cable company, bringing in former NBCUniversal and Chernin Group TV production executive Katherine Pope. 

“We see original content as a way to further differentiate the Spectrum customer experience,” said Charter spokesman Justin Venech, in an email to Fierce this morning. “We have previously announced our co-production plans with AMC and Viacom, and we will continue to explore opportunities for the development of original content. We have no comment beyond that at this time.

RELATED: Charter hires former NBCU and Chernin executive Katherine Pope to head original content

Pope will operate under the title of senior VP of original content, working out of a Los Angeles base. Charter said in its announcement that Pope would oversee deals signed last year with AMC Networks and Viacom to produce original content for Charter. 

The cable operator, however, would not respond to several questions posed by Fierce. Are there going to be additional hires under Pope? Will Charter actually be responsible for producing movies and TV shows, or is her role to act as more of a liaison with AMC and Viacom?

"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,” said Charter Senior Executive VP David Ellen, to whom Pope will report, in a statement released Friday.  

RELATED: Charter signs AMC Networks to exclusive programming deal

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