CBS Corp. has elevated distribution head Scott Koondel to
senior VP and chief corporate content licensing officer.
In this new role, Koondel will look to drive revenue from
the licensing and distribution of content from all of the company's business
units, including The CW. Koondel will also focus on licensing content from past
CBS series. He will still play a large role in CBS' domestic cable and digital
programming sales, which is now under the newly formed CBS Global Distribution
Group.
Koondel had been the president of distribution for CBS
Television Distribution.
In the past, CBS has been conservative in allowing its series
to be streamed over the Internet, but has seemed to soften that stance. During
the company's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Les Moonves said thecompany is considering licensing past seasons of current shows to companies
like Amazon and Netflix. CBS also cut its first domestic licensing deal,
agreeing to put librarycontent on Hulu.
"Scott's efforts over the past several years have
opened a variety of new markets and have had a major positive financial impact
for CBS," said Joseph Ianniello, executive VP and CFO for CBS Corp.
"He is a truly unique executive, with his finger on the pulse of this
emerging growth area for our company. We look forward to his continued success
as we drive the value of our content across the ever-expanding platforms that
provide such a clear opportunity for us."
