Emerson Coleman has been promoted to senior vice president, programming, at Hearst Television, overseeing all of the company’s programming acquisitions for its 33 TV stations across 26 markets. He has served as vice president of programming for the company since 1999.
“Emerson has been instrumental in the growth and stewardship of Hearst Television’s best-in-class programming assets,” said Hearst Television president Jordan Wertlieb in a statement. “From our investment in the family-friendly programming of Litton Entertainment; the launch of the most successful new weekend syndicated program, Matter of Fact With Soledad O’Brien; countless local programming initiatives; and his deep relationships with all of our syndication partners, no single person represents our company’s commitment to quality programming, community service, and collaborative partnership more than Emerson.”
Coleman took on oversight of Litton Entertainment early last year after Hearst acquired the company, which is predominantly a producer of family-friendly Saturday morning programming blocks. Litton produces shows that air on ABC, CBS, The CW and NBC.
Coleman also oversees production of weekly news program, Matter of Fact With Soledad O’Brien. This season, the show, which is distributed by Sony Pictures Television, expanded its distribution to 85% of the country. It’s weekly audience averages about 1 million viewers. In September, the program collaborated with Hearst Television’s news teams to produce a group-wide special on the opioid crisis titled Matter of Fact: State of Addiction.
Prior to joining Hearst’s corporate time, Coleman served as vice president and director of broadcast operations at Hearst-owned NBC affiliate WBAL Baltimore. Before that, he worked as a writer and filmmaker, and worked at WBZ Boston and WJZ Baltimore, where he was executive producer of local programming.
Coleman is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communications, on whose board he serves. He also serves on the boards of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), and the advisory boards of that NATPE Educational Foundation and the Peabody Awards.
