New York— A pair of cable programmers dipped into the digital talent pool to buttress their new-media endeavors last week.
Scripps Networks, which has doubled its interactive ad-sales revenue in each of the past two years, hired Yahoo veteran Deanna Brown for the newly created position of president of its interactive group.
Brown brings to Scripps — whose dozen broadband channels, including those tied to linear networks HGTV and Food Network, averaged some 13 million unique monthly users in 2006 — more than 20 years as a strategic business executive with expertise in new businesses in media, entertainment and technology. She was general manager of Yahoo Media Group’s Lifestyles business unit, where she repositioned Yahoo Health and launched Yahoo Food.
And NBC Universal’s Bravo named former AOL executive Mari Katsunuma vice president of digital, to oversee strategic development, content and operations for such Internet and broadband properties as BravoTV.com, Brilliant But Cancelled, OutZone, GetTrio.com and the recent acquisitionTelevision Without Pity.
Katsunuma, who joined AOL in 1999, had been director of programming at the Time Warner-owned online service provider since 2004.
