Tuesday, July 14, 2020

ViacomCBS Sets Merged Diversity and Inclusion Team; Reveals Leadership Team to 'Break New Ground' in Representation

ViacomCBS announced today (Monday, July 13, 2020) that they have officially merged the diversity and inclusion teams from Viacom and CBS to form a D&I “super team”, Deadline reports. The announcement was made via a memo from Marva Smalls, ViacomCBS’ Global Head of Inclusion.


Marva Smalls, ViacomCBS' Global Head of Inclusion. Courtesy of ViacomCBS

“The Office of Global Inclusion (OGI) is benefitting greatly from the integration of diversity and inclusion legacy teams from Viacom and CBS,” said the memo. “Diversity and inclusion efforts have been a priority on both sides, creatively and corporately, and together we’re building on those accomplishments, doubling down in our work toward making inclusion, equity and belonging cornerstones of our culture and business.”

In addition, ViacomCBS has assembled a global diversity and inclusion team that includes Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i, Jason Williams, Stephanie Phelps, Wincie Knight and Jeanne Mau. They will work with Smalls to help bolster diversity and inclusion at ViacomCBS and foster initiatives that help promote representation.

“I’m thrilled to be able to combine these two amazing teams into one, as we continue our work around making inclusion, equity and belonging a cornerstone of ViacomCBS’ culture and business,” Smalls told Deadline. “I couldn’t be more excited to have such a strong leadership team in place to help ViacomCBS build on our progress, advance our initiatives and break new ground in driving diversity and inclusion with our employees, talent, suppliers and business partners everywhere.”

The news comes shortly after CBS unveiled a new plan to step up their efforts to be more inclusive to underrepresented television creators and writers. On Monday morning, the broadcast network has committed 25% of its script development budget to projects from creators, writers and producers who are Black, Indigenous and people of color. The initiative is set to kick off with the 2021/22 development season. In addition, ViacomCBS committed $5 million to social justice causes in June in the midst of the events following the death of George Floyd. It was in June when CEO Bob Bakish announced that Smalls would be integrating the diversity and inclusion teams from CBS and Viacom. He also shared the scaling of existing initiatives and the launching of new ones.

Read the full memo from Smalls about the merging of the teams and bios of the leadership team below.

Colleagues,

The Office of Global Inclusion (OGI) is benefitting greatly from the integration of diversity and inclusion legacy teams from Viacom and CBS. Diversity and inclusion efforts have been a priority on both sides, creatively and corporately, and together we’re building on those accomplishments, doubling down in our work toward making inclusion, equity and belonging cornerstones of our culture and business. I am pleased to announce the members of my leadership who will work with me and senior leaders to drive inclusion across ViacomCBS.

Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i: Currently Executive Vice President Entertainment Diversity, Inclusion & Communications of CBS Entertainment, Tiffany will assume the role of Executive Vice President, Entertainment Diversity & Inclusion, West Coast, ViacomCBS. In this role, Tiffany will continue to be based in Los Angeles and lead entertainment-focused diversity and inclusion initiatives across CBS Entertainment, Showtime Networks, Media Networks and Paramount Pictures. Tiffany, an advocate and authority in this space, will oversee creative development programs, talent initiatives and outreach to agencies, multicultural coalitions, guilds and other key inclusion stakeholders. Current dedicated west coast team members will report up to her.

Jason Williams: Jason, Senior Vice President, Global Inclusion Strategy at Viacom, will assume the role of Senior Vice President, Global Inclusion Strategy, ViacomCBS. Based in New York, Jason will focus on both corporate and entertainment diversity and inclusion initiatives across ViacomCBS, including executing our corporate inclusion strategy, managing relationships with our major internal and external partners, serving on key enterprise-wide councils, and partnering with the Sourcing and Procurement teams on expanding the Supplier Diversity Program. Rose Hatcher, Director of Supplier Diversity, will now have a dotted line report to Jason.

Stephanie Phelps: Stephanie has expanded her role to serve as Vice President, Global Inclusion, ViacomCBS. Stephanie is based in New York and will lead the integration and expansion of our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), manage the development and delivery of diversity and inclusion training modules, and the budget operations for OGI. She will also be responsible for special events and outreach to partner organizations and key civil rights stakeholders. Note that Stephanie was a member of the initial team that launched D&I programs for legacy Viacom, beginning with MTV Networks.

Wincie Knight: Wincie, our UK-based Senior Director, Global Inclusion Strategy for Viacom will continue in that role for ViacomCBS. She will focus primarily on diversity and inclusion corporate initiatives for International and the growth and development of our ERGs outside the U.S., partnering with international regulatory organizations. Wincie will also be responsible for diversity and inclusion training across our footprint in Europe.

Jeanne Mau: Jeanne, Senior Vice President, CBS Entertainment Diversity and Inclusion will be Senior Vice President, Global Inclusion, ViacomCBS. Based in Los Angeles, Jeanne will oversee the ViacomCBS Writers Mentoring Program, Directors Initiative, Viewfinder Emerging Directors Program and Nickelodeon Writers and Artist Program. Jeanne will continue to build partnerships with executives and producers to create access for artists and creators across all platforms of our business. As part of her role, she will also establish initiatives that inspire and foster innovation, and cultivate a diverse, world-class talent pool of content drivers.

With this highly experienced and passionate leadership team in place, the Office of Global Inclusion is well positioned to amplify our programs, break new ground, and make inclusion the fully immersive experience it needs to be for our employees, our on and off-screen talent, and our suppliers and business partners. Please join me in congratulating my leadership team. Our collective OGI team looks forward to working with every member of our global ViacomCBS family as we continue this important work at a time when it’s needed more than ever. Thank you.

Ours is a shared journey.

Marva

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From The Hollywood Reporter:

Race-Equity Consultants in Demand in Hollywood: "Never Once Have We Been So Busy"

Diversity and inclusion experts are sought more than ever by entertainment companies: "It's about dismantling racism."
"Never once have we been so busy and has the outcry been so enormous for help, for resources, for workplace climate assessments. It has been a really intense past four weeks. I will say that so many studios and agencies and entertainment companies here in L.A. have called," says USC professor Shaun Harper, executive director of the USC Race and Equity Center, who advises clients such as Bad Robot and Time magazine on DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion). He's part of a handful of experts who have been working with Hollywood companies on town halls, bias trainings and action plans for years, exponentially so in the wake of the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the racial reckoning that has followed suit. They've been especially in demand recently at companies that do not have a fleshed-out DEI team in place to fall back on.

The consultants come from a variety of backgrounds. Marya Bangee — executive director of Harness, an organization founded by America Ferrera, Wilmer Valderrama and Ryan Piers Williams — previously was a project director at UCLA, working to increase access to higher education in impoverished areas of the city. Rashid Shabazz, chief marketing and storytelling officer at the civil rights advocacy organization Color of Change, served as a program officer at the Open Society Foundations before joining the nonprofit and now works with UTA, Netflix, Participant and Amazon. Willie Jackson, a consultant and senior facilitator for the diversity strategy firm ReadySet (clients include Verizon Media and Amazon) has a résumé that includes founding Abernathy, a magazine for Black men. "I'm brokering conversations," says Jackson, including "confidential focus groups and one-on-ones" and "consulting sessions with members of leadership and executives." Most of these discussions are confidential and protected by NDAs; consultants would not disclose the fees they charge.

Many stressed to THR that they are not interested in working with companies seeking a quick fix, such as creating PR spin, bringing in a one-off speaker or making an optical hire. "There's a lot of people who are willing to check a box and have someone come and speak," says Bangee, who has done programming with Netflix, NBCUniversal and Sundance. "That doesn't mean change." Adds Harper, "I've seen this happen where a company will hire a chief diversity officer, [but] that person has no power, no budget and no staff, and they're expected to somehow move the needle on DEI. And it doesn't move very far, because it all falls on that one person."

They advise that, rather than focusing on a company's image in this moment, businesses should be looking for long-term, sustainable solutions. "We also do a lot of work in terms of culture change and narrative work," says Color of Change's Shabazz, who leads the nonprofit's Hollywood division, "working with production houses, studios, influencers and entertainers in helping to empower Black creatives to assure accurate depictions of Black people."

Color of Change is not alone; a number of these groups have been focused for years on getting underrepresented writers staffed and making sure that films and TV shows represent authentically diverse stories, a prominent one being the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Hollywood Bureau. "Tolerating a community is not enough — they have to be respected and accepted," says bureau director Sue Obeidi, whose background includes an MBA in marketing. MPAC notably helped create the first Muslim character on ABC's Grey's Anatomy as well as the hijab-wearing Muslim-American superhero Zahra on Nickelodeon's Glitch Techs.

"When one is talking about Muslims [onscreen], often they are not talking about Black Muslim narratives," continues Obeidi. "Every single opportunity to make a character a Black Muslim, specifically a Black Muslim woman, I take."

But with most film and TV production shut down because of COVID-19 and the call for change at an all-time high, most of the work that can be executed right now is internal. Multiple experts say a 360-degree approach, using data and discussions to analyze company culture from several perspectives, is the most effective way to enact change. "Time is working with our center to deliver a dozen high-quality professional learning experiences related to race and other dimensions of DEI, one per month. We're also doing a workplace racial climate assessment and strategic advising of the executive leadership team," says Harper of his yearlong partnership with the magazine, which includes addressing issues like "Retaining and Advancing Employees of Color."

Bangee also advises clients not to put the burden of change on Black employees. "What I'm hearing internally from companies is that the people of color staff is overwhelmed," she says. "They don't have the support they need and they're expected to lead this work on top of the work that they're already doing."

Dr. Kira Banks, co-founder of Saint Louis University's Institute for Healing, Justice and Equity, recently partnered with WarnerMedia to lead small group discussions there. "It's going to take time," she stresses. "We feel like we want to fix it quickly, but it took a long time to get to this pattern, so it's going to take intentional and ongoing work to get out of it."

What does this work look like? Dr. Steven Jones, founder of Jones, a company of organizational psychologists that has worked with Universal Music Group and Valence Media (parent company of The Hollywood Reporter), gives it a clear lens. "Is it racist or is it anti-racist?" he says plainly. "It's anti-racist if the outcomes of the decisions create greater representation of Black people. If decisions and policies keep the status quo — or create a greater inequity — then your systems are racist. We need white people in the industry to stand up and to have a zero-tolerance policy for racism. That's different to me than a cancel culture. It's about a commitment culture, a commitment to dismantling racism."

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From The Royal Gazette:

A guiding light for children

Kay Wilson Stallings had her career mapped out by the age of 10.

She wanted a job in television, children’s television specifically.

It’s how she ended up at Sesame Workshop, the home of Big Bird, Elmo, Abby Cadabby and their many muppet pals.

“Today there is a lot of media and a lot of things competing for children’s attention. In some ways children have developed a more sophisticated palate,” said Ms Wilson Stallings, the twin sister of health minister Kim Wilson.

“I love that Sesame Street is the gold standard of international media.”

She got her start answering telephones for The Oprah Winfrey Show and made her way up the ranks until her work on a talk show for children reaffirmed her earlier goal.

“After ten years I decided I just wanted to do kids’ content,” she said. “I moved to New York. The two biggest places to work in children’s television in New York are Sesame Workshop and Nickelodeon.

“I was very fortunate that a friend of a friend’s babysitter knew someone at Nickelodeon. They got me in the door.”

Ms Wilson Stallings so impressed Brown Johnson, a recognised leader in children’s television, that the Nickelodeon executive created a role for her.

“I have been really fortunate to have people who saw my talent and really spoke on my behalf,” she said.

Blues Clues had just launched; Dora the Explorer and Little Bill were in the works. Ms Wilson Stallings built on that, developing more than 30 shows during her 16 years with the television channel.

When Ms Johnson moved over to Sesame Workshop in 2015, Ms Wilson Stallings followed.

Eager to help the non-profit expand into other areas, she created Sesame Studios for YouTube. She also helped develop the first new Sesame Workshop shows in nearly a decade: Esme&Roy, Helpsters and Ghostwriter.

“Children were watching much more content on digital platforms like YouTube,” said Ms Wilson Stallings who had been senior vice-president of creative development, but was last month promoted to executive vice-president of creative and production.

“Our mission is to help children grow smarter, stronger and kinder. Wherever children are, that’s where we want to be.”

In her new role she oversees development of new content and Sesame Street spin-offs, and works more closely with their international partners. A lot of her time is spent dealing with producers and creators, reading scripts and looking at animation tests.

“I also listen to talent voiceovers, casting and music,” she said. “That is the good part of my day, being actively involved in the creative component of the content we make.”

Recognising just how difficult it is for women and people of diverse backgrounds to get a job in television if they didn’t know someone she created The Sesame Workshop Writers’ Room. An eight-week programme, it is designed to provide opportunities for minority writers.

“All writers who take part are talented and experienced writers, but it is giving them an opportunity to be in the room,” she said. “We get 600-plus applicants a year and we narrow it down to eight to ten fellows that participate.”

Industry experts help the fellows take their work from premise to script in hope that it “can be pitched to a distributor”.

Ms Wilson Stallings is not the first Bermudian to be involved with Sesame Workshop. Michael Frith, a veteran of Jim Henson’s Muppets team, honed his skills on Sesame Street back in the 1970s; Mel Ming was president and chief executive of Sesame Workshop from 2011 until his retirement in 2014.

She was born in Panama to Bermudians Glenda Dawn Barclay Gunter and Sayeed Ramadan. Her father was in the US Army at the time.

When their parents divorced, she and her sister Kim moved with their mother to the United States.

Ms Wilson Stallings returns to the island several times a year to visit her family.

“If I had known we were going to be under quarantine for so long, I probably just would have come home and stayed there,” she said. “I don’t know when I will be able to go again.”

Her 13-year-old son, Cortez, was often her muse when he was younger.

“I still share stuff with him,” she said. “I might be looking for a variety of designs. I might say which ones do you like? He has great creative instincts. Nine times out of ten things he chooses are successful.”

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More Nick: Nickelodeon Upfront 2020 Roundup!

Originally published: Monday, July 13, 2020 at 20:23 BST.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon News and Highlights!

July 2020 on Nickelodeon Russia: It's Pony | LEGO Jurassic World | The Substitute | SpongeBob | The Loud House | The Casagrandes + Much More

--- This July (июле), Nickelodeon Russia (Россия) will be airing:


Смотри в июле | Nickelodeon Россия - Не пропусти новые шоу на Nickelodeon.

-- Brand new episodes of The Loud House (Мой шумный дом) season 4 Fridays at 12:30 MCK! Each all new episode will encore the same day at 17:45 MCK. New episodes include "Write and Wrong" and "Brave the Last Dance".

-- Brand new episodes of Corn & Peg (Рог и Пегги) weekends at 8:45 MCK!

- The brand new show LEGO® Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar (Мир Юрского периода: Легенда острова Нублар) Sundays at 17:45 MCK from Sunday 5th July 2020!

- The brand new show The Substitute (Nickelodeon: Учитель на замену) Fridays at 15:20 MCK!

-- Brand new episodes of The Casagrandes (Касагранде) Sundays at 10:50 MCK from Sunday 12th July 2020! Each all new episode will encore the same day at 18:55 MCK.

-- Two brand new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants (Губка Боб Квадратные Штаны) Sundays (12 & 19) at 14:10 MCK! The new episodes are "Biddy Sitting" ("Няньки для старушки") and "Swamp Mates" ("Товарищи по болоту").

-- The brand new show It's Pony (Это Пони), weekends at 14:30 MCK from Saturday 11th July 2020! Each all new episode will encore the same evening at 20:10 MCK. Okko subscribers can catch the first episode now on Paramount+! [more info]

-- Brand new episodes of ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks (Элвиннн!!! и бурундуки) season four weekdays at 8:40 МСК from Monday 20th July 2020!

-- Marathons on hit Nickelodeon shows!:

- Sam & Cat (Сэм и Кэт) weekday mornings at 9:40 MCK

- The Thundermans (Грозная семейка)

- Themed The Loud House & The Casagrandes weekdays at 12:30 MCK

- Themed SpongeBob SquarePants Sundays at 12:30 MCK

-- But Nickelodeon knows that one day just isn't enough, so Nickelodeon will be handing over the airwaves to viewers all summer! All through summer, Nickelodeon will be giving fans the chance to vote for their favourite shows via social media, with two shows to choose from each week. The show with the most votes will then air weekdays from 20:10 MCK the following week! The first round - between The Loud House (Мой шумный дом) and The Adventures of Kid Danger (Приключения Опасного Малого) - has already begun, and the winning show will air from Monday 8th June 2020. Fans can vote for their favourite Nick shows as many times as they like - there are no rules! #ДеньСамоуправления

-- And finally, Every Witch Way (Колдовская история) returns for four whole weeks, weekdays at 15:45 MCK (repeat at 22:05 MCK) from Monday 20th July 2020!

From Nickelodeon Россия's VKontakte page:

Что новенького в июле

Лето, каникулы, премьеры на Nickelodeon!


И премьер будет так много, что ты, наверное, даже устанешь читать… Но лучше листай до конца и репости, чтобы ничего не пропустить. Начинаем!

«Мой шумный дом»: давненько мы не смотрели новые серии о семейке Лаудов, поэтому начнём уже в эту пятницу! Четвёртый сезон продолжится эпизодами в которых Рита Лауд сменит профессию, а Клайд снова влюбится! Смотри весь месяц по пятницам в 12:30 с повтором в 17:45 МСК.

«Рог и Пегги»: субботу и воскресенье будем начинать с истории о единороге Роге и пегасе Пегги, которые всегда готовы помочь своим друзьям.Смотри новые серии весь месяц по выходным в 8:45 МСК.

«Мир Юрского периода: Легенда острова Нублар»: премьера на Nickelodeon — в мире LEGO начинаются новые приключения! В парке «Мир Юрского периода» очень много работы: стройка, туристы, динозавры… И, кажется, кто-то замышляет диверсию?? Скоро всё выясним! Смотри новое шоу с 5 июля по воскресеньям в 17:45 МСК.

«Nickelodeon: Учитель на замену»: вторая неделя месяца порадует нас ещё больше, ведь такого в эфире Nickelodeon ещё не бывало. 10 самых топовых (и почти что вышедших из-под контроля) пранков от 10 твоих любимчиков! Представь на секундочку, что у тебя сегодня замена и вместо учителя математики приходит новый, совершенно неизвестный, но крайне забавный учитель. Кто же он? Смотри «Nickelodeon: Учитель на замену» по пятницам в 15:20 МСК!

«Касагранде»: эта большая и очень милая семейка снова с нами! В новых эпизодах мы ещё ближе познакомимся не только с Ронни Энн и Бобби, но ещё с их папой, Карлитосом и Розой! Кто из Касагранде твой любимчик? Если пока что не выбрал, смотри новые эпизоды по воскресеньям с 12 июля в 10:50 и 18:55 МСК.

«Губка Боб Квадратные Штаны»: куда же мы без него! В июле тебя ждут ещё два новых эпизода — те самые долгожданные «Няньки для старушки» и «Товарищи по болоту». Смотри 12 и 19 июля в 14:10 МСК.

«Это Пони»: самая непредсказуемая премьера месяца! Жизнь Энни была бы совершенно обычной, если бы не её энергичный, эмоциональный и не всегда рассудительный лучший друг Пони. Который и в самом деле пони. Только говорящий. И живут они вместе с Энни и её семьёй. Столько приключений их ждут, не сосчитать. Смотри «Это Пони» по выходным в 14:30 МСК с 11 июля!

«Элвиннн!!! И бурундуки»: с 20 июля по будням в 8:40 МСК продолжим смотреть четвёртый сезон. Тебе ведь тоже интересно, что ещё умудрится натворить Элвин?

МАРАФОНЫ И КОЕ-ЧТО ЕЩЁ

«Кэт и Сэм»: самые забавные серии «Виктории-победительницы» и «Сэм и Кэт» во главе с Катриной Валентайн. Смотри марафон посвящённый Ариане Гранде каждое будничное утро в 9:40 МСК.

«Грозная семейка»: продолжаем смотреть историю семьи Сандерменов с конца и до начала. Между прочим, мы уже в конце второго сезона и вот-вот посмотрим спэшл «Рождение героя» в двух частях.

«Мой шумный дом» и «Касагранде»: на этой неделе мы досмотрим марафон «Команда Линкольна» — по будням в 12:30 покажем серии про Лори и Бобби (в конце этого марафона в пятницу мы как раз покажем новую серию). А с 6 июля по будням в то же время посмотрим марафон «Всё о Касагранде» — там мы смешали разные серии про Лаудов и Касагранде, чтобы ещё ближе познакомить тебя с этой новой семейкой. И да, этот марафон тоже с новыми сериями «Моего шумного дома» — каждую пятницу :)

«Губка Боб Квадратные Штаны»: продолжаем смотреть тематические марафоны по воскресеньям в 12:30! 5 июля посмотрим пляжный марафон, 12 июля — «Марафон фокусов», 19 июля — лучшие эпизоды со Сквидвардом и 26 июля — с Патриком.

«Рули Эфиром»: мы продолжаем спрашивать у тебя, что тебе больше нравится :) И не просто спрашивать, но и показывать эти шоу в эфире. В июле будем выбирать лучшие сериалы: каждый понедельник тут и в Instagram появляется новый пост с двумя шоу на выбор, принимаются голоса в опросе ВК, в сторис и в комментариях. И голосовать можно сколько угодно. Победителя показываем каждую следующую неделю, по будням в 20:10 МСК.

И напоследок, МЕГАНОВОСТЬ: на экраны возвращается «Колдовская история» на целых четыре недели! Мы увидим историю Эммы и её магические приключения с самой первой серии — с 20 июля по будням в 15:45 с повтором в 22:05 МСК.

Фух! Кажется, всё самое главное мы рассказали!
Приятного просмотра!

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Что смотреть в июле? Обзор от Lidus | Nickelodeon Россия


В июле тебя ждёт много веселья от Nickelodeon. Смотри новые шоу, играй в наши игры и не пропусти марафоны твоих любимых сериалов. Подключайся!

Official ViacomCBS Networks Россия press release:

NICKELODEON РОССИЯ РАЗЫГРАЕТ УЧЕНИКОВ В НОВОМ ШОУ «NICKELODEON УЧИТЕЛЬ НА ЗАМЕНУ»


10 июля телеканал Nickelodeon Россия представит пранк-шоу «Nickelodeon Учитель на замену», главными героями которого станут обычные школьники и звезды мира спорта, музыки и ТВ. Переодетые в преподавателей знаменитости разыграют ребят и проведут у них несколько уроков.

В новом шоу Nickelodeon звездные гости попробуют себя в роли чудаковатых учителей на замену. Переодетые актеры проведут уроки у учащихся младших и средних классов. На занятиях они будут вести себя крайне необычно, а установленные в кабинетах скрытые камеры снимут реакцию ничего не подозревающих учеников на все происходящее.

В розыгрышах примут участие такие знаменитости, как спортсмены Джон Сина, Шон Уайт и Никки Белла, исполнители Ne-Yo и Джонни Орландо, актеры Джейс Норман, Купер Барнс, Кел Митчел, Ашер Энджел и Рико Родригес, а также популярные блогеры Лили Сингх и ДжоДжо Сива. В шоу каждый из них предстанет в совершенно непривычном для себя образе, над которым поработает команда лучших мастеров по гриму, чтобы изменить гостя шоу до неузнаваемости.

В одном из выпусков Джейса Нормана, молодую звезду сериала Nickelodeon «Опасный Генри», перевоплотят в пожилого профессора. В таком виде он проведет уроки биологии, обществознания и физкультуры. Он съест самый острый в мире перец, до слез рассмешит ребят и проверит, смогут ли они помочь ему в трудной ситуации.

В конце каждого эпизода школьников ожидает сюрприз и разоблачение преподавателя. Шоу покажет их неподдельные эмоции от встречи с кумирами, которые пообщаются с ребятами и принесут щедрый подарок их школе.

Смотрите пранк-шоу «Nickelodeon Учитель на замену» в эфире Nickelodeon Россия с 10 июля по пятницам в 15:20 и по воскресеньям в 16:35 по московскому времени.

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Больше Nick: ViacomCBS Networks Russia Launches 'Together' Campaigns

Originally published: Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon Russia News and Highlights!

Nickelodeon Executives to Speak at Children’s Media Conference 2020

The The Children’s Media Conference (CMC) has announced that executives from Nickelodeon and ViacomCBS will be taking part in a variety of sessions at CMC 2020, which will this year be held virtually due to the on-going COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.


Below are details about the sessions Nick and ViacomCBS execs will be taking part in, along with their bios. CMC 2020's full timetable;e is available online at https://www.thechildrensmediaconference.com/.

International Exchange
Thursday 2nd July 2020, 8:00am - 8:00pm BST
Meeting Mojo

Read session preview

The International Exchange is a must for anyone looking for international sales, partnerships or project funding. The International Exchange plays host to a wide range of broadcasters, co-producers, funders and investors from across the world keen to meet sellers of content and services.

Guests include: Elliot Palmer, Nickelodeon International; Anna Silver, Nickelodeon UK; Louise Burgess, Channel 5

See the full list of confirmed UK and international commissioning and acquisition guests here

More information on the International Exchange here

The International Exchange requires a separate ticket to the main CMC conference. Ticket sales for this event are now closed.

Confirmed UK and international commissioning and acquisition guests include:

Elliot Palmer, Nickelodeon International
Anna Silver, Nickelodeon UK
Louise Burgess, Channel 5

SkillBuilder: Pitch Yourself Perfect!
Monday 6th July 2020, 2:00pm - 3:30pm BST
Zoom

Build, develop and refresh your skills with the CMC SkillBuilder – a mix of advice and hands-on learning.

With top tips from industry experts, including insights on how to approach different genres and platforms, and guidance on developing your project bible, SkillBuilder gets delegates close to expertise at the heart of the international children’s entertainment business.

These video conference ‘round table’ sessions will help you take your pitch to the next level with a deeper dive into preparation, technique, materials, pitch bibles & International pitching opportunities. This is a unique opportunity to get advice on pitching to commissioners, networks, platforms, senior writers, producers and distributors from the SkillBuilder expert panel, and receive invaluable personal feedback & guidance on your ideas, techniques & concepts from those who know the recipe for success.

This special standalone workshop requires a separate ticket to the main CMC conference and is now sold out.

This event is supported by the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund and Children’s TV Skills Fund, thanks to contributions from the UK industry.

Panellists include: Lynsey O’Callaghan (Expert), Viacom International Media Networks; Louise Bucknole (Executive Producer), ViacomCBS Networks International

Question Time: Right Now and What’s Next?
Tuesday 7th July 2020, 11:00am - 12:00pm BST
CMC Online Platform
Sponsored by: Nickelodeon

CMC’s familiar opening Question Time explores the strategic questions around kids and content – how policy and regulation impact on media-makers and how this serves the children’s and youth audience. This year we also take a leap into the future to consider where kids and the kids’ media industry will be as we emerge from the pandemic. How is life going to change in the next year and beyond for the children’s industry and children’s media lives? What are the opportunities and challenges for all those involved in kid’s media: creators, educators, regulators, broadcasters, and of course the needs of, and implications for our young audience?

Panellists include: Russell T Davies (Speaker), Writer and Producer (Doctor Who)

Commissioner Conversations: PSBs
Tuesday 7th July 2020, 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST
CMC Online Platform
Sponsored by: Tiger Aspect

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Ask questions directly to commissioners from Channel 4, BBC Children’s, CITV, Milkshake! and S4C. Find out what the Lockdown means for their commissioning process, what’s good as well as bad about the current situation, what are the opportunities for fast turnaround programming and how do they see the next 12 months playing out including their relationship with YACF funding.

Panellists include: Louise Bucknole (Speaker), ViacomCBS Networks International

The BFI YACF: Success, Learnings and the Future
Wednesday 8th July 2020, 11:00am - 12:00pm BST
CMC Online Platform
Sponsored by: Fourth Wall Creative

Launched in October 2018, the Young Audience Content Fund is a three-year program that will provide up to £57 million in development and production funding to UK original public service content. In a period of unprecedented disruption, the fund could provide an avenue of much needed support to the UK industry.

In discussion with the Head of Fund and panellists spanning the breadth of the awards, including PSB broadcasters to independent producers, we discuss what has been achieved so far, the experience of the process and the lessons learnt along the way.

This forum will provide an opportunity to dive into how the fund is evolving one year in amid the current pandemic, how this will shape future decisions and the aspirations going forward from the fund itself but also those that have to apply.

Panellists include: Louise Bucknole (Speaker), ViacomCBS Networks International; Kelly Wood (Producer), Nickelodeon UK & Ireland

Commissioner Conversations: Channels
Thursday 9th July 2020, 2:00pm - 3:00pm BST
CMC Online Platform
Sponsored by: A Productions

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Find out what’s new from some of the world’s biggest commercial kids’ broadcasters. In an extraordinary year, we’ll hear what’s been working for them, what they’re looking for next and how best to approach them.

Angela Morrow, producing the CMC Commissioner Conversations with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, wants to encourage you to attend and ask questions!

In a year of unprecedented challenge and change for the industry we can all take a modicum of solace from the perennial presence of the CMC Commissioner Conversation – Channels panel.

You may be a new creator, an industry veteran or somewhere between the two. Wherever you are along that road, you’ll want to hear what these highly experienced commissioners have to say. They are the conduit between creator and audience and their insights are invaluable in plotting the route from idea to screen.

Discover how WarnerMedia and Nickleodeon have risen to the challenge of keeping kids entertained in lockdown and what new content they have yet to come. Find out what opportunities they have for new collaborations and commissions and how best to approach them with your amazing idea.

This year the ever popular CMC Commissioner Conversations – Channels panel is taking place right there in your home office or at your kitchen table. You already have a front row seat, so pour yourself a coffee and submit your questions via the Question button, we’ll ask as many as we can.

This session includes a presentation by Changemaker Lucy Edwards, Presenter and Disability Rights Campaigner.
Video on Demand 2020

Panellists include: Nina Hahn (Speaker), ViacomCBS Networks International

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Thursday 9th July 2020, 4:00pm - 5:00pm BST
CMC Online Platform
Sponsored by: Enterprise Ireland

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is is the only pitch competition with real-world outcomes. Dragons enter the “den” with a fund to buy options in the projects they decide to support, and deals on short development windows are done on the spot. The pitchers get great feedback and the audience learns what works and what doesn’t – while also seeing into the mind’s eye of funders.

Panellists include: Nigel Clarke (Host/Moderator), TV Presenter; Jules Borkent (Speaker), Viacom CBS Networks International (VCNI)

Animation Assemble!
Friday 10th July 2020, 11:00am - 12:00pm BST
CMC Online Platform
Sponsored by: Animation UK

The Coronavirus Pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption and concern in virtually every sector across the globe, from education to hospitality, and has halted almost all film and television production. With animation one of the few sectors to remain in production throughout lockdown and resilient to further disruption, “Animation Assemble!” will ask: what are the opportunities in the animation industry today?

This forum features a range of panellists from across the animation industry, and will discuss the real issues facing studios – of all sizes and locations.

An essential panel for those across the animation sector, the panel will dive into questions such as; will we see more animation commissions, how will we compete in the newly competitive global market, and can animation commissions reflect the lives of young people today?

Panellists include: Chris Rose (Speaker), Nickelodeon

LGBTQ+ Now
Video on Demand 2020

Read VoD preview

Perspective On… LGBTQ+ Now has a CMC Facebook Group Chat area for discussion, questions and comment during the conference.

This discussion brings together creatives, broadcasters and policy makers to consider LGBTQ+ storytelling now. How is the latest content paving the way for authentic representation and empowering self-expression for a new generation? And how do we pledge to increase the volume of authentic LGBTQ+ storytelling?

Panellists include: Eryk Casemiro (Speaker), Nickelodeon; Olly Pike (Speaker), Pop'n'Olly.

Angela Santomero
Video on Demand 2020

Angela was a TV kid. She was that preschooler who couldn’t sit closer to the television when ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’ was on. Mister Rogers spoke to her. Her inner child is delighted with how grown up Angela had the opportunity to bring ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood’ to a new generation today.

Inner Child Angela vowed to bring kids into the experience in an “interactive” way! And grown up Angela does just that as she plays with her favourite shows – talking to the TV, singing along, or acting out the stories.

Bios:

Lynsey O'Callaghan
Director of International Content Acquisitions and Pre-school Current Series, Viacom International Media Networks

Lynsey joined Nickelodeon from BBC Children’s 13 years ago, and sits as Executive in Charge across Nick International Pre-School properties, and has worked on hundreds of episodes for series including: ‘Becca’s Bunch’, ‘Zack & Quack’, ‘Puffin Rock’, ‘The Day Henry Met’, ‘Wissper’, ‘Lily’s Driftwood Bay’, & ‘Digby Dragon’. She’s currently overseeing ‘The Adventures of Paddington Bear’ ‘Calvin and Kaison’s Play Power’ with Nick Australia and ‘Deer Squad’ – Nickelodeon’s first ever Chinese original series. Lynsey also handles acquisitions deals for the U.K., and sits on Nickelodeon’s International Programming Council.

Louise Bucknole
VP, Programming Kids, VCNI UK & Ireland, ViacomCBS Networks International

Louise is a kid’s content strategist and commissioner with over twenty years’ channel management and creative leadership experience.

At VCNI, Louise is the Kids content lead in the UK and responsible for leading all strategic, editorial and operational aspects for the Nick Network including Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. and Nick Jr. Too channels and Milkshake! on Channel 5, including commissions, acquisitions, programming, multiplatform, production and development and sits on the Nickelodeon International Programming Council. Louise also works with the commercial, consumer products and events teams to grow the brands and ensure best in class activations. Commissions and acquisitions include ‘Peppa Pig’, ‘Horrid Henry’, ‘Find Me In Paris’, ‘Milkshake! Monkey’, ‘Thomas & Friends’, ‘Mimi’s World’, ‘Meet The Experts’, ‘Pip & Posy’ and ‘Daisy & Ollie’.

Prior to joining VCNI, Louise was Director of Programming, Disney Channels UK & Ireland where she was responsible for leading all aspects of content strategy, planning and editorial operations for all linear, non-linear and VOD services, ordering all Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD content. Commissions included ‘Goalmouth’, ‘First Class Chefs’, ‘Art Attack’, ‘Furry Friends’ and ‘Access All Areas’.

Louise previously worked as Head of Scheduling, BBC Children’s where she oversaw content strategy for CBBC, CBeebies, the children’s blocks on BBC One, BBC Two and the iPlayer. Prior to that she was Senior Manager, Programme Planning for Disney Channels UK & Ireland, and formerly as Channel Editor and Scheduler for CITV, where she was part of the team that launched the CITV channel. Louise started her career at ITV in production, as a Production Co-ordinator, Researcher and Producer in Children’s for eight years.

She is a member of RTS, BAFTA and sits on the ScreenSkills Children’s Council, the Children’s Media Conference Advisory Committee and the YACF Strategic Advisory Group.

Kelly Wood
Director, Programming, Nickelodeon UK & Ireland

Kelly is a passionate content strategist with over a decades experience in TV, research and marketing.

Kelly is the Director of Programming for Nickelodeon, responsible for the Nick Network in the UK and Ireland including Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. and Nick Jr. Too channels. As an editorial lead for Nickelodeon content across linear and non-linear platforms, Kelly is responsible for communicating priorities and developing innovative content strategies to drive the performance and brand health of the nickelodeon channels.

Kelly is a trained researcher and prior to moving into programming was responsible for insight and analytics at Nickelodeon. In addition to stints at Channel 4, as part of the team responsible for concept testing for the Comedy and Entertainment slate, and OMD UK, working on B2C brand tracking and evaluation.

Nina Hahn
Senior Vice President, International Production & Development, Nickelodeon International, ViacomCBS Networks International

As Senior Vice President, International Production & Development, Nina Hahn oversees international content development and co-production partnerships for Nickelodeon outside of the US. Based in London, Hahn coordinates and drives the development process, spearheading new production models, managing productions from pilot through to series, and working in direct partnership with Nickelodeon’s content teams around the world.

Jules Borkent
EVP, Kids & Family, Viacom CBS Networks International (VCNI)

Jules Borkent is Executive Vice President, Kids & Family for Viacom CBS Networks International (VCNI). In his role as brand lead for Nickelodeon International, Borkent is in charge of all aspects of content and business operations, overseeing brand and content management and strategy, acquisitions, production development, creative, and multiplatform for Nickelodeon branded channels and platforms internationally.

Prior to Borkent’s current role, he was Executive Vice President, Content and Network Strategy for Nickelodeon International, a role he assumed January 2017. Previously, Borkent was Senior Vice President of Global Acquisitions and International Programming, Nickelodeon, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), which he assumed in 2008. In both roles, Borkent was responsible for leading global acquisitions for Nickelodeon, as well as programming strategies for Nickelodeon International. In close alignment with Nickelodeon U.S., Borkent established the international programming council, which he continues to oversee in his current role. Borkent also continues to manage a multi-million-dollar content investment across kids and family programming.

Prior to that, Borkent was Vice President of Programming for Nickelodeon International, based in London. He was responsible for Nickelodeon’s global programming and acquisitions strategy, with an emphasis on liaising with local programming heads to coordinate and develop pan-regional deals for Nickelodeon’s localized channels across Europe. In addition to acquisitions, Borkent also managed programming activities for Nickelodeon’s international channels.

Borkent joined Nickelodeon in 1998 as the Director of Programming and Acquisitions for Nickelodeon Europe and Africa where he was responsible for local acquisitions and various pan-regional programming initiatives and productions.

Born in The Netherlands, Borkent holds a Master’s Degree in English & Literature from University of Nijmegen, Netherlands. Borkent lives in New York City.

Chris Rose
VP of Animation Production and Development, Nickelodeon

As VP of Animation Production and Development, Chris Rose heads up animation development and production for Nickelodeon International. In addition to identifying and developing new IP for Nick Toons, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr, Chris works across Nick International’s original animated content production slate and manages the international component of the animated shorts programme.

Chris previously ran the development and production arm of London’s Beano Studios and served as TV Commissioning Editor for ABC ME and ABC KIDS, ABC Australia’s children’s channels.

Eryk Casemiro
SVP Preschool, Nickelodeon

Eryk Casemiro is Senior Vice President of Nickelodeon Preschool, in charge of the network’s preschool production and development across all formats and platforms spanning digital, TV and film. Based in Nickelodeon’s Burbank, Calif., headquarters, Casemiro manages the day-to-day operations of Nick’s preschool group, with creative and business oversight of the preschool Executives In Charge (EICs) on both the east and west coasts.

Eryk is an Emmy® Award-winning producer that will continue to serve as an executive producer for Nickelodeon’s forthcoming reboot of the iconic kids’ series, ‘Rugrats’, which will include all-new adventures with fan-favorites Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Susie and Angelica, and introduce a new world of characters. A Rugrats alum, Casemiro was a producer on the original series during his time as Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs at Klasky-Csupo Productions.

While at Klasky-Csupo Productions, Casemiro was also responsible for the development and production of beloved Nickelodeon shows such as ‘The Wild Thornberrys’, ‘Rocket Power’, ‘As Told By Ginger’, and ‘All Grown Up!’, earning the studio three Ark Trust Awards, four Humanitas Awards, 10 Emmy nominations, and an Emmy Award. He also led the development and production of feature films for Paramount Pictures including ‘Rugrats Go Wild’, ‘The Wild Thornberrys Movie’, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, ‘Rugrats in Paris: The Movie’, and ‘The Rugrats Movie’.

Nigel Clarke
TV Presenter

Nigel Clarke is a TV presenter and performer, best known for his work on The Baby Club and is founder of Dadvengers.

Born and raised in London to West Indian Parents, Nigel is a rare and talented find. Since January 2019, he has been at the helm of the hugely successful ‘The Baby Club’ on CBeebies, which was described by The Guardian, as ‘a TV godsend for frazzled new parents’. Alongside Giovanna Fletcher, he leads babies and their parents in charming songs, games and calming storytime.

Following on from the success of ‘The Baby Club’, Nigel discovered the lack of information and support for dads and started the Dadvengers initiative.

A well experienced hand, Nigel has also presented a wide variety of programmes including the ‘CBeebies Proms’, ‘Dance Factory’, ‘Clutter Nutters’, ‘Sportsround’ and ‘Totally Rubbish’ for the BBC; ‘Toonattik’ for GMTV; ‘Unlimited’ for Facebook; ‘Skillicious’ for ITV; ‘My Camp Rock’ for Disney, and ‘Rat Race Urban Adventure’ for Channel 4. In addition, he hosts red carpet and behind the scenes coverage for BAFTA and Disney. Nigel also had a stint presenting Nickelodeon UK's in-vision continuity links in the early 2000s.

Nigel is also incredibly passionate about dance, music and sport. He also performs in the hugely successful percussion show STOMP, both in the West End and internationally. This has led him to perform at events such as the Olympics Closing Ceremony 2012, Live at the Palladium, The Royal Variety Performance and The World Music Awards.

Angela Santomero
Creator and Chief Creative Officer, 9 Story Media Group

Angela C. Santomero, Creator & Executive Producer of ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’, ‘Blue’s Clues’, ‘Wishenpoof’, ‘Creative Galaxy’ and ‘Super Why’ has been changing the way children watch TV for more than twenty years. She is the Creator, Executive Producer and Writer for award winning kids and family content for PBS, Nickelodeon, Amazon Studios, etc.

With a Masters in Child Developmental Psychology from Columbia University-Teacher’s College, Angela’s vision for integrating educational curriculum into entertaining content for kids led her to co-create, executive produce and head write Nick Jr. ‘s landmark series, ‘Blue’s Clues’. Malcolm Gladwell referred to ‘Blue’s Clues’ as “One of the stickiest TV shows EVER made”, in The Tipping Point.

Angela is the recipient of the prestigious Peabody Award for Outstanding Childrenʹs Programming as well as several gold and silver Parents’ Choice Awards.

‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Preschool Children’s Animated Series at the 2019 Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Ms. Santomero’s book ‘PRESCHOOL CLUES: Raising Smart, Inspired, and Engaged Kids in a Screen-Filled World’ (Touchstone) was released April 2018. Her second book ‘RADICAL KINDNESS: The Life Changing Power of Giving and Receiving’ was released in 2019.

From C21 Media:

Pandemic ‘sparking production creativity’

CMC: The coronavirus pandemic has provided a “call to arms” for the production industry to innovate, according to Nickelodeon’s senior VP of production and development.

Speaking at this year’s digital edition of annual UK event the Children’s Media Conference, Nina Hahn said the world of TV production had experienced some positives amid the crisis.

“The upside of the downside is that creativity really is fuelled by chaos and fuelled by disruption, and the pandemic has obviously been very chaotic, very disruptive, very unsettling,” said the exec.

“But for creative people, it’s actually been a bit of a bit of a win because, all of a sudden, we’re being asked to make things differently, find new ways to do things, think of new ways to make things, work with partnerships that you might not have worked with before and get it all done quickly.

“So to a certain degree, it’s been a fantastic call to arms for us to be able to respond to that stuff, which is really good.”

Elsewhere during the session, Hahn discussed Nickelodeon’s commitment to driving diversity and inclusivity across its brand and content. Hahn pointed to the Nickelodeon Bill of Rights, created in 1990, as a key factor in the company’s diversity strategy.

“We’re at a moment where all of our training and all of our expertise in that area from a kids perspective has really put us in a good place at a good time,” she said.

“To be truly authentic really means to reflect the world in which kids live, and every year you have to look at that, every month you have to look at that, every day you have to look at that in order to make sure you’ve got characters and content – both in front of the camera and behind the camera – that really speak authentically to the voices you’ve got.

“You have to really work to include kids and make sure they understand they all have a voice that is equal to each other.”

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From C21 Media:

The CMC scene

Last week’s online Children’s Media Conference saw buyers outline how the pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement are shaping their shopping lists.

The Athena typifies the “glossy” drama Sky is after

The usual late-night drinks in the Mercure Sheffield lobby and subsequent hangovers may have been absent from this year’s virtual Children’s Media Conference (CMC), but the event’s usual agenda-setting sessions were still present.

The event even managed to continue its traditional karaoke night, albeit over Zoom, courtesy of Jamie Badminton, live from Karrot Studios last Thursday evening.

This year’s CMC had over 1,000 registered delegates, with the most popular session being the opening keynote that focused on the Black Lives Matter movement. You can read C21’s report on that session here.

Meanwhile, a host of buyers took to Zoom to outline how both the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement are impacting their commissioning strategies.

On the latter, Hopster’s chief content creator Miki Chojnacka said the UK-based preschool digital entertainment platform is looking for content focusing on black history.

“We wanted to celebrate Black History Month this year and we realised that there’s not enough content, and if there is content, it’s mostly quite old, US history. What we are missing and what we are looking for is content – it could be songs or episodes – about black history, especially the British one. So, the Windrush generation and also current role models.

“We would like to have current role models that don’t come from the urban space but are scientists, pilots or writers. That’s something we’re definitely looking for now, very actively.

“We’re looking for diversity not only on-screen but also behind the screen. We’re looking for creators from black or Asian minorities; they could be songwriters, video creators or designers,” Chojnacka told delegates.

Chojnacka also explained that Hopster is hoping to commission educational preschool content to help its young viewers learn about diversity and inclusivity through engaging storytelling.

“The content has to be about learning, diverse, inclusive and gender-neutral – or even more important, there could be no gender stereotypes. It needs to be smart but also really funny and sweet because we help kids learn with stories they love. They have to fall in love with the characters,” the exec explained.

Elsewhere, Nina Hahn, Nickelodeon International’s senior VP of production and development, said the coronavirus pandemic has provided a “call to arms” for the production industry to innovate.

“The upside of the downside is that creativity really is fuelled by chaos and fuelled by disruption, and the pandemic has obviously been very chaotic, very disruptive, very unsettling,” said the exec.

“But for creative people, it’s actually been a bit of a bit of a win, because all of a sudden, we’re being asked to make things differently, find new ways to do things, think of new ways to make things, work with partnerships that you might not have worked with before and get it all done quickly.

“So, to a certain degree, it’s been a fantastic call to arms for us to be able to respond to that stuff, which is really good.”

Elsewhere during the session, Hahn discussed Nickelodeon’s commitment to driving diversity and inclusivity across its brand and content. Hahn pointed to the Nickelodeon Bill of Rights, created in 1990, as a key factor in the company’s diversity strategy.

“We’re at a moment where all of our training and all of our expertise in that area from a kid’s perspective has really put us in a good place at a good time,” she said.

“To be truly authentic really means to reflect the world in which kids live, and every year you have to look at that, every month you have to look at that, every day you have to look at that in order to make sure you’ve got characters and content – both in front of and behind the camera – that really speak authentically to the voices you’ve got.

“You have to really work to include kids and make sure they understand they all have a voice that is equal to each other.”

Elsewhere, Sky’s director of kids’ content for the UK and Ireland, Lucy Murphy, said the children’s arm of the UK satcaster is seeking to expand its original drama slate and build on the success its arts and crafts titles have enjoyed during the pandemic.

“We are looking for drama. Looking at something like The Athena, which we made last year, and H2O, we want it to be glossy, memorable and aspirational,” Murphy said.

“The great thing about on-demand is that you can put boxsets up, you can have narrative arcs across series and you don’t have to go for episodic shows. So we are looking specifically for drama.”

Meanwhile, highlighting the strong performance of arts and crafts content on Sky Kids during the coronavirus lockdown, Murphy said she was hoping to add established brands in this space to the satcaster’s offering.

“We’re looking for more of the shortform arts and crafts type of content as well and, as always, we’re constantly on the lookout for shows to acquire from big brands. We don’t just buy big brands, we look for little gems as well,” Murphy said.

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More Nick: Nickelodeon Upfront 2020 Roundup!

Originally published: Saturday, July 04, 2020.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon International News and Highlights!

Peacock Strikes Content Licensing Agreement with ViacomCBS

Peacock Strikes Content Licensing Agreement with ViacomCBS

Expands Library Catalog with Ray Donovan,
The Affair, Charmed, Undercover Boss, The Game,
Everybody Hates Chris and Real Husbands of Hollywood

Paramount Movies to Stream on Peacock Include The Godfather Trilogy,
American Beauty, Catch Me If You Can,
Old School and Seabiscuit

Content will also continue to be available on ViacomCBS platforms


New York, NY – July 1, 2020 – Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, today announced an agreement to license popular Paramount movies and TV shows from the ViacomCBS library.

Hit series including Ray Donovan, The Affair, Charmed*, Undercover Boss, The Game, Everybody Hates Chris and Real Husbands of Hollywood will be available to stream on Peacock with the launch of the service on July 15 and will continue to be available on ViacomCBS platforms. In addition, premium films from Paramount’s library will stream on Peacock in limited exclusivity windows throughout 2021, 2022, and 2023 including: The Godfather trilogy, Catch Me If You Can, The Talented Mr. Ripley, American Beauty, Patriot Games, Last Holiday, Fatal Attraction, The Firm, An Officer and a Gentleman, among others.

“We are truly excited to bring some of the most popular movies and series from across the ViacomCBS family of brands to Peacock,” said Frances Manfredi, President, Content Acquisition and Strategy, Peacock. “We continue to expand the Peacock catalog with premium programming from NBCUniversal and beyond; partnering with companies like ViacomCBS to ensure that all of our viewers can choose from the best entertainment options available in the market today.”

In July, Peacock will launch across mobile, web and connected TV platforms with a free tier featuring more than 7,500 hours of movies, shows, and timely live and on-demand programming across news, sports, reality and late night. Peacock Premium will also be available for $4.99 per month and features more than 15,000 hours of content. Viewers may also upgrade Peacock Premium to ad-free for an additional $5.00 per month.

“This agreement with Peacock demonstrates the incredible and enduring value of ViacomCBS content,” said Dan Cohen, President, ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group. “The partnership we are announcing today is consistent with our strategy to maximize the value of our content by selectively licensing our library product to third parties while prioritizing franchise IP for our own platforms.”

ViacomCBS movies and shows will join a massive catalog of premium programming which includes Peacock originals like Brave New World, The Capture, Intelligence and Lost Speedways; sports documentary In Deep with Ryan Lochte; and the entire full-length film Psych 2: Lassie Come Home. Additionally, Peacock will feature current season programming from NBC and Telemundo; hundreds of blockbuster and beloved movies including the Fast & Furious franchise, E.T., Lost in Translation and Shrek; iconic shows such as comedies Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, Monk, King of Queens, Everybody Loves Raymond, Two and a Half Men, Frasier, George Lopez, and Cheers; dramas like Law & Order: SVU, Downton Abbey, Yellowstone, Friday Night Lights, House, Battlestar Galactica, Psych, Parenthood, Heroes, and kids series including Curious George, Where’s Waldo? and Cleopatra in Space.

Peacock customers will also enjoy daily programming highlights from TODAY, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, E! News and Access Hollywood, and dozens of streaming channels including clip-based channels like the best Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers comedy sketches, the best sketches from the SNL Vault, plus news channels from NBC News Now and Sky News, and genre channels like True Crime, Reality Check-In and 80s Mix Tape.

For more information, visit http://www.peacocktv.com.

*Charmed will be available on Peacock starting in October.

About Peacock:

Peacock is NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, launching in 2020. Peacock will deliver a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, including two of the most-watched streaming series, The Office and Parks and Recreation, plus critically-acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock will tap into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

About ViacomCBS:

ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC; VIACA) is a leading global media and entertainment company that creates premium content and experiences for audiences worldwide. Driven by iconic consumer brands, its portfolio includes CBS, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, CBS All Access, Pluto TV and Simon & Schuster, among others. The company delivers the largest share of the U.S. television audience and boasts one of the industry’s most important and extensive libraries of TV and film titles. In addition to offering innovative streaming services and digital video products, ViacomCBS provides powerful capabilities in production, distribution and advertising solutions for partners on five continents.

For more information about ViacomCBS, please visit www.viacomcbs.com and follow @ViacomCBS on social platforms.

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From CNBC:

NBCUniversal’s Peacock strikes licensing deal for ViacomCBS movies and TV shows including ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Undercover Boss’

Key Points:

- ViacomCBS will license TV shows including “Ray Donovan” and “Undercover Boss” and movies such as “The Godfather” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” to NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service, Peacock.

- The deal is nonexclusive, meaning ViacomCBS can license the shows and movies to other companies and can offer them on its own streaming service.

- NBCUniversal’s Peacock launches nationally on July 15.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock has reached a deal with ViacomCBS that will add more movies and TV shows to the subscription streaming service before it launches later this month.

The additional programming will be available nonexclusively to Peacock, the companies said in a statement. ViacomCBS can license the films and shows to other streaming services and can include them on its own All Access streaming service.

The movies, such as all three “The Godfather” films and “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” will be available on Peacock in limited, months-long exclusivity windows through 2021, 2022 and 2023. Shows include “Ray Donovan,” “Undercover Boss,” “Everybody Hates Chris” and “Real Husbands of Hollywood.”

The deal adds content to Peacock, which will compete with other streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max when it debuts nationally on July 15. Peacock is offering a free, ad-supported tier with 7,500 hours of movies and shows and a premium tier with 15,000 for $4.99 per month, with ads. There will also be an option to pay $9.99 per month to get the premium tier without ads. The ViacomCBS titles will be mixed between the free and premium tiers, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details of the deal are private.

“We continue to expand the Peacock catalog with premium programming from NBCUniversal and beyond, partnering with companies like ViacomCBS to ensure that all of our viewers can choose from the best entertainment options available in the market today,” Frances Manfredi, Peacock’s president of content acquisition and strategy, said in a statement.

ViacomCBS benefits from monetizing some of its library content outside of its own streaming service. ViacomCBS has been among the most aggressive renters of its own content for years. The company generated about $6.5 billion in content licensing revenue in 2019 and took in about $1.6 billion in the first quarter of 2020.

More broadly, the agreement may usher in a new era of licensing among streaming services. Executives at Peacock and HBO Max, which is run by AT&T’s WarnerMedia, have publicly stated a desire to aggregate content from other services on their streaming platforms to bulk up offerings. If consumers only have an appetite for three or four streaming services, other media companies may choose to license their content to the most popular services instead of competing on the strength of their original content.

Some executives at NBCUniversal have worried if Peacock has enough heft to compete with Netflix and Disney. More than two years ago, former NBC CEO Steve Burke held conversations with AT&T’s Warner Bros. to launch a joint streaming service that would have combined the two companies’ libraries, but AT&T said no, choosing to focus on HBO Max.

Still, this particular deal is limited. ViacomCBS specifically chose the content in the Peacock agreement to ensure its expanded streaming service maintains exclusivity of its most valuable content, said a person familiar with the matter. The company’s new subscription service will build off CBS All Access and include programming from linear networks such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV and movies from Paramount Pictures. It will “soft launch” later this year with 30,000 TV episodes and up to 1,000 movies.

“The partnership we are announcing today is consistent with our strategy to maximize the value of our content by selectively licensing our library product to third parties while prioritizing franchise IP for our own platforms,” Dan Cohen, ViacomCBS’ global distribution group president, said in the statement.

Viacom owns 140,000 TV episodes and more than 4,000 films in total.

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Official NBCUniversal press release:

PEACOCK LAUNCHES NATIONALLY TOMORROW WITH FREE AND PREMIUM TIERS

Free Tier Will Feature More Than 13,000 Hours of Premium Programming;
Peacock Premium Will Feature More than 20,000 Hours

Premiere Dates Announced for New Peacock Originals Including
A.P. Bio, Departure, Five Bedrooms and Hitmen

Massive Movie Catalog Welcomes Trolls World Tour and You Should Have Left in 2020;
Croods 2, Boss Baby 2 and Spirit in 2021

Live Sporting Events to Stream on Peacock Include U.S. Open Championship and
U.S. Open Women’s Championship (Golf), Tour de France, La Vuelta, Premier League,
an NFL Wild Card Game, Ryder Cup, and the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics and Paralympics

Peacock to Stream Four Exclusive Premier League Matches on July 15 in Free Tier

New Exclusive Curated Channel TODAY All Day Joins Fan Favorites Office Shorts, SNL Vault, and Fallon Tonight

Sign Up Today for the Free Tier of Peacock, or Peacock Premium for just $4.99/Month at PeacockTV.com or via Participating Partner Platforms Tomorrow

New York, NY – July 14, 2020 – Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new highly anticipated streaming service, will officially launch tomorrow offering consumers across the country a world-class collection of the best live and on demand programming from NBCUniversal and beyond.


Peacock will offer more than 20,000 hours of premium content from networks and studios including NBC, Bravo, USA Network, SYFY, Oxygen, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, NBCSN, Golf Channel, Universal Kids, A&E, ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, HISTORY, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, Focus Features, Illumination, ViacomCBS, Paramount, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. and Blumhouse. In addition, the service will feature Peacock Original movies and shows; more than 30 curated channels; current season series and specials from NBC and Telemundo; live news and sports; as well as daily trending highlights from TODAY, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, Noticias Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, E! News and Access Hollywood.

“This is a historic moment for our company as we proudly introduce Peacock to consumers nationwide—a groundbreaking vision that was brought to life by an incredible team of people from across Comcast, NBCUniversal and Sky,” said Matt Strauss, Chairman of Peacock. “From current, classic and original movies and shows, to live news, sports, curated channels and trending content from around the world, Peacock is the only free, premium ad-supported streaming service that brings together everything consumers love about television and streaming—all in one place.”

HOW TO WATCH

Peacock offers an ad-supported free tier and an ad-supported premium tier for $4.99/month, serving no more than five minutes of advertising per hour. An ad-free version of the premium tier is also available for $9.99/month.

Peacock is currently available on Apple devices including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD; Google platforms and devices including Android™, Android TV™ devices, Chromecast and Chromecast built-in devices; Microsoft’s Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One S and Xbox One X; and VIZIO SmartCast™ TVs and LG Smart TVs. Comcast’s eligible Xfinity X1 and Flex customers, as well as eligible Cox Contour customers, enjoy Peacock Premium included with their service at no additional cost. Starting the week of July 20, Peacock will be available Sony PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro.

WHAT TO WATCH

Both free and premium tiers will feature current season hits from NBC, timely news, sports and pop culture highlights, and dozens of genre channels including live news from NBC News Now and Sky News, exclusive curated channels featuring the best moments from your favorite shows like The Office (“Office Shorts”), Saturday Night Live (“SNL Vault”), The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (“Fallon Tonight”), Late Night With Seth Meyers (“Seth Meyers Now”), and exclusive genre channels like CNBC Make It, TODAY All Day, CNBC Ka-Ching, American Greed, 80s Mixtape, True Crime, Kiss Me Deadly, Peacock Reality, Out of This World, Caso Cerrado and I Love Jenni, among others.

FREE TIER HIGHLIGHTS

The only new streamer to offer a free, premium tier of service, Peacock will deliver more than 13,000 hours of content—completely free—including a vast library of popular movies like the The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, Tully, Phantom Thread, The Interpreter, American Psycho, The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, The Blair Witch Project, The Mummy, Joe, Fletch, Fletch Lives, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, Fear, Psycho, Do the Right Thing, Howard the Duck, Billy Elliot, The Birds, Willie, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, The Last House On The Left, I Am Ali, In The Name of the Father, Lone Ranger, The Hitcher, Law Abiding Citizen, The Sting, What Dreams May Come, Fried Green Tomatoes, One True Thing, Gosford Park, Dracula and Dragnet.

The free tier will offer new episodes of NBC current season series one week after they air including hits This Is Us and The Blacklist, sample episodes of Peacock Originals, and hundreds of iconic shows including comedies like 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live, Saved by the Bell, Punky Brewster, The Johnny Carson Show, The Carol Burnett Show, Real Husbands of Hollywood and Everybody Hates Chris; dramas like Friday Night Lights, Downton Abbey, Parenthood, Monk, Heroes, Psych, The Game, Suits, Sacred Lies, Royal Pains, Battlestar Galactica, Columbo, Hunter, The Rockford Files, Dateline, 21 Jump Street, Highlander, Leave It To Beaver, Munsters and Murder She Wrote; reality series like Below Deck, Southern Charm, Chrisley Knows Best, Botched, Flipping Out, Million Dollar Listing New York, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Real Housewives of Dallas, Jay Leno’s Garage, Shahs of Sunset and Undercover Boss; competition series like Top Chef Masters, Hell’s Kitchen, Hollywood Game Night and American Ninja Warrior Jr.; kids series including Kong, The Animated Series, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Fievel’s American Tails and Woody Woodpecker; and Spanish-language titles like Betty en NY, I Love Jenni, Reina De Corazones, The Riveras, Preso No. 1, Caso Cerrado, El Baron, El Chema, Larrymania, Perro Amor, Mi Familia Perfecta, Quien es Quien, Victoria and Donde Esta Elisa.

Live sports in the free tier include four exclusive Premier League matches on July 15, coverage of the U.S. Open Championship and Women’s Open Championships, an NFL Wild Card Playoff Game, and select events from the upcoming Tokyo and Beijing Olympics. In addition, sports fans will enjoy on demand replays of events like Triple Crown horse races, daily highlights from NBC Sports, and hundreds of hours of sports series, documentaries and films such as Tiger Woods Chasing History, 1968, I Am Ali, Dream Team, Being Evel, Feherty, Willie, and Peacock Originals Lost Speedways and In Deep with Ryan Lochte.

PREMIUM TIER HIGHLIGHTS

For those wanting even more, Peacock Premium will feature access to all 20,000 hours of programming on the platform, including everything in the free tier plus the full catalog of Peacock Originals including Brave New World, The Capture, Intelligence, Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, DreamWorks Where’s Waldo?, DreamWorks Cleopatra In Space and Curious George; all library series including treasured favorites like Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, George Lopez, Jeff Foxworthy Show, King of Queens, Superstore, Frasier, Cheers, House, The Affair, Yellowstone, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Ray Donovan, Swedish Dicks and American Ninja Warrior; kids series including DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk, Care Bears and Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot; and the entire movie collection including unforgettable titles like Shrek, Lone Survivor, Ted, Identity Thief, Children of Men, Charlie Wilson’s War, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Frankenstein, Kicking and Screaming, Larry Crowne, and You, Me & Dupree.

The premium tier will also provide earlier access to programming, such as next-day access to new episodes of current season NBC shows including America’s Got Talent, Blindspot, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, Saturday Night Live, Superstore, Law & Order: SVU, Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, New Amsterdam, Manifest, The Titan Games, Hollywood Game Night, World of Dance, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Hollywood, Days of Our Lives, Dateline, NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press, and Telemundo series including 100 Días Para Enamorarnos, Celia, Cennet, Enemigo Intimo, La Doña, Minuto Para Ganar and Noticias Telemundo. Exclusive access to Late Night With Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 8:00 pm ET will only be available on Peacock Premium when the shows return to in-studio production.

Peacock Premium will also feature access to a growing catalog of live and on demand sports programming, including more than 175 exclusive Premier League matches for the 2020-2021 season; coverage of elite cycling events like the Tour De France from August 29 – September 20, and La Vuelta from October 20 – November 8; and more than 100 hours of WWE content coming in August including series WWE Untold and Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions, and compilations like John Cena’s Best WrestleMania Matches.

COMING SOON

New original programming will continually debut on Peacock, including previously announced titles like Angelyne, Rutherford Falls, Battlestar Galactica, Punky Brewster,  Dr. Death, Housewives Mash-up, Saved By the Bell, Five Bedrooms, Lady Parts, Girls5Eva, Who Wrote That, Kids Tonight Show, The Amber Ruffin Show, Armas De Mujer and Caso Cerrado.

In addition, popular shows – including the most streamed series of all time, The Office – will soon live on Peacock, including Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Bates Motel, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Real Housewives of New York, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Real Housewives of Orange County, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Vanderpump Rules, Millionaire Matchmaker, Top Chef, Married with Children, Curse of Oak Island, First 48, American Pickers, Ancient Aliens, Cold Case Files and Charmed.

Movie buffs will enjoy a steady influx of feature films, including movies in the Pay 1 window such as Trolls World Tour, You Should Have Left, Croods 2; Boss Baby 2, and Spirit, and upcoming library titles like Mama, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, The Purge, Riddick, Ride Along, E.T., American Gangster, ANTZ, Fast & Furious, Fast 5, Fast & Furious 6, Field of Dreams, The Express, Knocked Up, Bridesmaids, National Lampoon’s Vacation, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Wanted, Evan Almighty, The Conjuring, Dawn of the Dead, The Dark Knight, Beetlejuice, The Big Lebowski, Scent of a Woman, Meatballs, 3:10 to Yuma, Lost In Translation, Brokeback Mountain, Pitch Black, The Graduate, Police Academy, The Great Outdoors, Hostel, The Bone Collector, Robin Hood, The Hurt Locker, The Break Up, Open Water, It Follows, Carlito’s Way and Sinister.

And sports fans will always have more to look forward to with an NFL Wild Card Game, Ryder Cup and the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics coming in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

NEW PEACOCK ORIGINALS COMING LATER THIS SUMMER

In addition to the nine Peacock Originals launching with the service on July 15, Peacock announced premiere dates for more original series to debut in the coming weeks, including:

A.P. BIO – Premiering September 3, 2020

When disgraced Harvard philosophy scholar Jack Griffin (Glenn Howerton, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) loses out on his dream job, he is forced to return to Toledo, Ohio, and work as a high school Advanced Placement biology teacher. As he comes crashing into Whitlock High School, Jack makes it absolutely clear that he will not be teaching any biology. Realizing he has a room full of honor roll students at his disposal, Jack decides instead to use the kids’ brainpower for his own benefit. But are his students instead helping him to realize his dream job might actually be the one he has right now? Eager to prove that he is still king of the castle, Principal Durbin (Patton Oswalt, Veep) struggles to control the force of nature that is Jack Griffin. The series also stars Mary Sohn (Work in Progress), Lyric Lewis (Baskets), Jean Villepique (Sharp Objects) and Paula Pell (Saturday Night Live). A.P. BIO is produced by Broadway Video, Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions and Universal Television.

DEPARTURE – Premiering September 17, 2020

Passenger plane Flight 716 shockingly vanishes, and brilliant investigator Kendra Malley (Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife), alongside her mentor Howard Lawson (Christopher Plummer, Knives Out) are brought on to lead the investigation. When battling forces threaten to undermine their work, Kendra must find the truth and stop it from happening again. The series also stars Kris Holden-Reid (Umbrella Academy), Rebecca Liddiard (Run This Town), Tamara Duarte (Longmire), Mark Rendall (Versailles), Peter Mensah (Midnight, Texas) and Sasha Roiz (Suits). DEPARTURE is produced in association with Starlings Television and Corus Entertainment, produced by Shaftesbury (Canada) and Greenpoint Productions Ltd. (UK).

FIVE BEDROOMS – Premiering August 13, 2020

Five singles meet at, of all places, the singles’ table at a wedding. After several bottles of champagne, they decide to pitch in and buy a house together. Five singles buy a house together – what could go right? It's a grand social experiment with one glaring problem: they'll have to actually live with each other. All while journeying together through disasters, life-turning crises, and moments of love, joy and heartbreak. The series stars Kat Stewart (Offspring), Stephen Peacocke (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), Doris Younane (Frayed), Katie Robertson (Rosehaven), Roy Joseph (Halim), Kate Jenkinson (Wentworth) and Hugh Sheridan (Packed to the Rafters). FIVE BEDROOMS is produced by Hoodlum Entertainment with assistance from Film Victoria. It is co-funded by Sky Studios, Network Ten and Screen Australia.

HITMEN – Premiering August 6, 2020

Best friends Jamie (Mel Giedroyc) and Fran (Sue Perkins) are trying to make their way in the world with only each other to rely on. They also just happen to kill people for a living. Fueled by their antics and frivolous bickering, each job inevitably gets derailed, leading them into bizarre misadventures, full of oddball characters and unexpected dilemmas. HITMEN is produced by Tiger Aspect in association with Sky Studios and is distributed by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.

For more information, please visit www.peacocktv.com and find Peacock on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About Peacock:

Peacock is NBCUniversal’s new streaming service. Peacock delivers a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, plus critically acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock taps into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night, Spanish-language and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

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More Nick: Netflix and Nickelodeon Form Multi-Year Output Deal to Produce Original Animated Films and Series!

Originally published: Wednesday, July 01, 2020.

Additional sources: TheFutonCritic.com.
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VCNI Promotes Susanne Schildknecht to VP, Brands, Central Europe

ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) has promoted Susanne Schildknecht to the role of Vice President (VP) of Brands for Central Europe. In her new role, effective immediately, Schildknecht will be responsible for the strategic management of VCNI's entire brand portfolio - including Nickelodeon - in seventeen markets, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania. Based in Berlin, Schildknecht will report directly to Mark Specht, Executive Vice President (EVP) & General Manager (GM), Central Europe, and to German Groba, Senior Vice President (SVP), Brands at VCNI Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA).


The experienced media manager joined the ViacomCBS management team in Berlin in early 2020.

Susanne Schildknecht has over 13 years of experience as a media manager. Before moving to ViacomCBS, she was in charge of marketing for the children's channel Super RTL in Cologne since 2015. Previously, she had held senior positions in the areas of ad sales and brand marketing for the Cologne TV station since 2010. She was also head of marketing / sales at the Bertelsmann subsidiary Arvato and senior analyst at a management consultancy in London.

"With Susanne Schildknecht, we have gained a new colleague for our management team, who already has extensive experience with some of the most successful brands in the German children and youth sector. With her expertise, she will play a very important role in the positioning and development of Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount Network as well as new brands in our markets and will work closely with our teams to develop new initiatives in the digital, event and of course TV business," said Mark Specht. "We are very pleased that we have succeeded in filling this newly created position in our team with such a high calibre person".

Official ViacomCBS Networks GSA (Germany, Switzerland and Austria) press release:

Susanne Schildknecht verantwortet ab sofort das Markenportfolio von ViacomCBS Networks International in Central Europe

Berlin/Budapest/Prag/Warschau, 14. Juli 2020 – Bereits Anfang des Jahres bekam das Führungsteam von ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) am Standort Berlin mit Susanne Schildknecht sehr erfahrenen Zuwachs. Nun steigt die 42-Jährige ab sofort zum Vice President Brands Central Europe auf und ist damit markenübergreifend verantwortlich für die strategische Führung des gesamten Markenportfolios von VCNI in siebzehn Märkten, inkl. Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz, Polen, Ungarn, der Tschechischen Republik und Rumänien. Susanne Schildknecht berichtet in ihrer Position als Teil der neuen Führungsebene für Central Europe direkt an Mark Specht, EVP & General Manager Central Europe, sowie an German Groba, Senior Vice President Brands bei VCNI EMEAA.

„Mit Susanne Schildknecht haben wir eine neue Kollegin für unser Führungsteam hinzugewonnen, die bereits auf große Erfahrung mit einigen der erfolgreichsten Marken im deutschen Kinder- und Jugendbereich zurückblicken kann. Mit ihrer Expertise wird sie eine sehr wichtige Rolle in der Positionierung und Entwicklung von Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount Network sowie neuer Marken in unseren Märkten spielen und eng mit unseren Teams zusammenarbeiten, um neue Initiativen im Digitalen, im Eventbereich und natürlich im TV-Geschäft zu entwickeln“, so Mark Specht. „Wir freuen uns sehr, dass es uns gelungen ist, diese neugeschaffene Position in unserem Team so hochkarätig zu besetzen.“

Susanne Schildknecht kann auf über 13 Jahre Erfahrung als Medienmanagerin zurückblicken. Zuletzt leitete sie bei SUPER RTL seit 2015 das Marketing für den Kölner Kindersender. Zuvor bekleidete sie bereits seit 2010 leitende Positionen in den Bereichen Ad Sales und Brand Marketing für SUPER RTL, nach Stationen bei der Bertelsmann-Tochter arvato als Abteilungsleiterin im Bereich Marketing/Sales sowie bei einer Unternehmensberatung in London als Senior Analyst. Susanne Schildknecht ist diplomierte Betriebswirtin und hat in Berlin und Dublin studiert.

Über ViacomCBS Networks International:

ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) ist Teil des globalen Medienunternehmens ViacomCBS. In den deutschsprachigen Märkten Deutschland, Österreich und Schweiz bietet VCNI mit MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon und anderen bekannten Entertainment-Marken vielfältige TV- und Onlineangebote für die Zielgruppen Kinder, Familie, Jugendliche und Erwachsene an. Insgesamt erreicht das TV-Angebot von VCNI in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz mehr als 40 Millionen Haushalte. Dazu kommt die starke Entwicklung unserer Marken und unser Partnerschaften in den Bereichen Consumer Products und Recreation: Unsere Marken sind erlebbar auf Events, als Lizenzprodukte und in Freizeitparks.

Für mehr aktuelle Informationen zu ViacomCBS Networks International und unseren Marken folgen Sie uns auf twitter.com/vimngermany, facebook.com/viacomcbsgsa oder besuchen Sie unsere Webseite unter viacom.de.

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From HORIZONT:

Susanne Schildknecht wird Markenchefin für Zentraleuropa

Viacom CBS Networks International (VCNI) bekommt eine neue Markenchefin für Mitteleuropa inklusive dem deutschsprachigen Raum. Ab sofort verantwortet Susanne Schildknecht die Positionierung von Sendern wie MTV, Nickelodeon und Comedy Central. Die 42-Jährige wechselt von Super RTL nach Berlin.

Bei VCNI verantwortet Schildknecht als Vice President Brands Central Europe die Führung des gesamten Markenportfolios des US-Medienunternehmens in siebzehn Märkten, darunter Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz, Polen, Ungarn, der Tschechischen Republik und Rumänien. Als Teil der neuen Führungsebene für Central Europe berichtet sie direkt an Mark Specht, EVP & General Manager Central Europe, sowie an German Groba, Senior Vice President Brands bei VCNI EMEAA.

"Mit Susanne Schildknecht haben wir eine neue Kollegin für unser Führungsteam hinzugewonnen, die bereits auf große Erfahrung mit einigen der erfolgreichsten Marken im deutschen Kinder- und Jugendbereich zurückblicken kann", betont Specht. "Mit ihrer Expertise wird sie eine sehr wichtige Rolle in der Positionierung und Entwicklung von Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount Network sowie neuer Marken in unseren Märkten spielen und eng mit unseren Teams zusammenarbeiten, um neue Initiativen im Digitalen, im Eventbereich und natürlich im TV-Geschäft zu entwickeln. Wir freuen uns sehr, dass es uns gelungen ist, diese neugeschaffene Position in unserem Team so hochkarätig zu besetzen."

Schildknecht kommt von Super RTL, wo sie seit 2015 das Marketing verantwortete. Zuvor war sie bei dem Kindernsender in den Bereichen Ad Sales und Brand Marketing tätig. Die Betriebswirtin startete ihre Karriere als Analystin bei einer Unternehmensberatung in London und Abteilungsleiterin Kundenmanagement bei der Bertelsmann-Tochter Arvato. dh

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From DWDL.de:

Verantwortlich für das Markenportfolio

Susanne Schildknecht steigt bei ViacomCBS auf

Ab sofort verantwortet Susanne Schildknecht das Markenportfolio von ViacomCBS Networks International in Zentraleuropa. Die 42-Jährige ist seit Beginn des Jahres für das Unternehmen und arbeitete zuvor viele Jahre lang für Super RTL.

Schon seit Beginn des Jahres ist Susanne Schildknecht im Führungsteam von ViacomCBS Networks International am Standort Berlin tätig, nun steigt die 42-Jährige zum Vice President Brands Central Europe auf. In dieser Funktion ist sie markenübergreifend für die strategische Führung des gesamten Markenportfolios von VCNI in 17 Märkten verantwortlich, darunter Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz.

Susanne Schildknecht berichtet in ihrer Position als Teil der neuen Führungsebene für Central Europe direkt an Mark Specht, EVP & General Manager Central Europe, sowie an German Groba, Senior Vice President Brands bei VCNI EMEAA. Seit 2015 leitete Schildknecht bei Super RTL das Marketing, duvor bekleidete sie bereits seit 2010 leitende Positionen in den Bereichen Ad Sales und Brand Marketing für den Kölner Kindersender.

"Mit Susanne Schildknecht haben wir eine neue Kollegin für unser Führungsteam hinzugewonnen, die bereits auf große Erfahrung mit einigen der erfolgreichsten Marken im deutschen Kinder- und Jugendbereich zurückblicken kann", sagte Mark Specht. "Mit ihrer Expertise wird sie eine sehr wichtige Rolle in der Positionierung und Entwicklung von Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount Network sowie neuer Marken in unseren Märkten spielen und eng mit unseren Teams zusammenarbeiten, um neue Initiativen im Digitalen, im Eventbereich und natürlich im TV-Geschäft zu entwickeln."

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More Nick: ViacomCBS to Launch NickToons in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia on Monday 13th July 2020!

Additional source: New Business.
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