Dennis Patton, who helped to launch National Geographic Channel in January,
will be leaving the network at the end of the month, officials said.
Patton, NGC's executive vice president of marketing and new media, will do
some consulting work for the channel and other clients after he leaves.
Patton, a veteran of Rainbow Media Holdings Inc., has been working at NGC for
about 11 months, he said. He came on board to help president Laureen Ong, whom
he has known 17 years, get the new channel rolled out.
'We accomplished what we needed to do,' he added.
He had been commuting between the channel's headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
and his home in Manhattan during his tenure.
Patton was senior vice president and general manager of MuchMusic USA from
1996 through 1999. He spent 15 years in total at Rainbow in various positions at
Prism and SportsChannel Philadelphia, American Movie Classics and MuchMusic.
'I've established a track record with start-ups,' he said.
NGC is owned by National Geographic Television and the Fox Cable Networks
Group.
