Disney/ABC’s Tom Zappala Joins Spike TV

NEW YORK: Tom Zappala, who previously served as the executive VP of acquisitions and scheduling at Disney/ABC Cable Networks Group, has been hired by Spike TV as its executive VP of programming.

Zappala will oversee the scheduling and media planning for the channel, in addition to acquisitions. In his time at Disney, Zappala was responsible for the off-network, first-run and feature acquisitions and international and domestic co-productions. He also oversaw the planning and linear and digital scheduling for ABC Family. Prior to ABC Family, Zappala was the senior VP of programming at Viacom, working across 35 owned-and-operated TV stations. He also previously served as the VP and executive director of programming at Paramount, before the purchase by Viacom.

“We are thrilled to have one of the top programmers in the industry join our team,” said Kevin Kay, the president of Spike TV, to whom Zappala will report. “Tom has a proven track record of success and we look forward to utilizing his wealth of programming experience as Spike continues to grow and expand its audience.”