Premium programmers Starz said Michael Thornton has decided to step down as chief revenue officer, but will stay on as a consultant into the fall.
Starz said Thornton will not be replaced in that role. The programmer has not announced who will be assuming Thornton’s responsibilities.
Starz promoted Thornton to CRO, then a newly created position, in August 2014. Thornton, who is also late of Disney-ABC Domestic Television and DirecTV, joined Starz in 2011.
“I want to thank Michael for his guidance and leadership over the past five years, first as Executive Vice President, Acquisitions, Business and Legal Affairs, and then as Chief Revenue Officer,” Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said, in a statement. “As part of the executive team, he oversaw the expansion of both our domestic and international distribution businesses, and he was instrumental in revenue growth, helping to make Starz the second most widely distributed premium network in the U.S.”
Another senior executive, Starz president Glenn Curtis, is set to retire as of July 1. And the programmer recently hired former CAA executive Pamela Wolfe as executive vice president of human resources.
Starz’s flagship network has roughly 24 million U.S. subscribers while Starz Encore has about 32.4 million. Starz, on the heels of a recent rebranding of its Encore services, recently launched a new unified app that serves as the home of its TV Everywhere offerings and its direct-to-consumer subscription OTT offering.
