Lion channels exec
Nick's Tuchman taking over for Haimovitz
Tuchman, who was senior vice president at Viacom's Nickelodeon, will focus on launching cable and satellite channels to distribute the Lion's library and manage the company's existing channels worldwide.
MGM owns foreign entertainment channels in Israel, Turkey, India and New Zealand, all of which were clinched during Haimovitz's two-year tenure. The Lion has equity stakes in 10 other foreign-based channels as well as a 20% stake in four of Rainbow Media's national cable channels, including American Movie Classics.
Tuchman will report directly to MGM Worldwide TV Distribution prexy Jim Griffiths, whereas Haimovitz, who held the president's title, reported directly to vice chairman and chief operating officer Chris McGurk.
The change in reporting suggests that MGM, like most of the other Hollywood majors, wants to strengthen coordination among its different worldwide distribution units.
"That way, with Bruce handling day-to-day operations," Griffiths told Daily Variety, "we can more efficiently capitalize on our strengths and leverage the assets of our library, while at the same time continuing to enjoy Jules' expertise and experience."
Over the last five years, MGM has managed to disentangle foreign rights to its huge library in a number of European territories, creating a regular cash flow from redeployment of that product. The Lion's catalog includes most worldwide rights to 4,000 film titles and 9,000 TV episodes.
Griffiths said the company would step up its efforts to secure carriage arrangements for its MGM-branded programming in mainstream territories in Europe and Asia.
Tuchman, a lawyer, comes to MGM Networks from Viacom's Nickelodeon unit, where he most recently served as senior VP, new-media ventures. He is credited with negotiating partnerships with Yahoo! and Microsoft Network for Nick.com. Before that, as general manager of Nickelodeon Global Ventures, he helped launch localized channels reaching 75 countries.
Haimovitz, whose career spans more than two decades with such companies as Viacom, Spelling and King World, will remain based in offices at MGM Plaza in Santa Monica.
