Starz has named elevated Jeffrey Hirsch, the former Time Warner Cable executive who came on board a year ago, to chief operating officer from president of global marketing and product planning. The premium programmer also promoted David Weil to chief legal officer, expanding his reach to include human resources.
The moves come shortly after Starz, under CEO Chris Albrecht (to whom Hirsch and Weil continue to report), announced the retirement of president Glenn Curtis and that chief revenue officer Michael Thornton was leaving his post but remaining as a consultant until the fall. Distribution duties had come under Thornton and now will come under Hirsch as COO: his oversight includes affiliate sales, marketing programming operations and research, Starz distribution and technology and product development. He already oversaw development of new products and services, including the new Starz all-in-one app (which Comcast continues to refuse to authenticate), the Starz rebrand and repositioning of Starz Encore services.
H.R. had been part of Curtis's purview and now is part of Weil's as chief legal officer, Starz said. Starz also recently appointed former CAA executive Pamela Wolfe as executive vice president of human resources.
Albrecht said in a release: "We are transforming Starz into a more innovative global entertainment brand. Jeff’s talent and experience will help us accelerate the transformation that began five years ago. We have made great progress in our programming, brands, subscribers and shareholder value, and the organization is focused with an eye to the future.”
Weil had been EVP and general counsel at Starz.
