After inking several new carriage deals, Bravo boosted its distribution from 79 million to more than 80 million homes.
The NBC Universal-owned cable network recently gained carriage on Cable One throughout Idaho; Atlantic Broadband in Chesapeake, Md.; Bresnan Communications in Grand Junction, Colo.; Bright House Networks in Indianapolis, Ind. and Intermountain Cable in Kentucky. Bravo has gained a total of 12 million homes since it was taken under the NBC umbrella in Dec. 2002.
The arts and pop culture network announced several staff changes today. In programming, Eli Lehrer joins the network as director of development, from VH1 where he had been manager, East Coast development. Lehrer, who helped oversee VH1 pilots including Driven Presents: Stage Moms and I Married, will now oversee original programming at Bravo, based in New York. NBC Universal veteran Mark Scholnick is upped to manager, programming, at Bravo from coordinator, Bravo strategic programming and development. He will oversee production on several Bravo series and serve as executive producer on Bravo’s Outrageous & Contagious: Viral Videos, based in Los Angeles.
Elsewhere at the network, Allison Clarke, formerly advertising account executive for NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, joins Bravo as director of Bravo advertising sales. Justin Reichman, formerly a writer/producer/manager in Bravo’s program packaging department, is upped to creative director of on-air promotion. Thordis Howard joins the network as director of production and operations, from the NBC Agency. Torrey Bell is upped to senior writer/producer and manager of new media integration, from a role in the on-air promotions department.
Bravo averaged 462,000 total viewers during prime in Jan. 2006, down 9 percent from last year.
