John Ford to Head Discovery Channel

SILVER SPRING, November
29: Jane Root is stepping down at Discovery Channel to return to the U.K., with
John Ford tapped as the network’s new president and general manager.

Root is currently
president and general manager of Discovery Channel and The Science Channel.
Commenting on her resignation, David M. Zaslav, the president and CEO of
Discovery Communications, said, “I want to thank Jane for her passion, vision
and leadership over the past three years. She has been a careful steward of our
flagship brand and we are grateful that she is leaving Discovery Channel with
such a strong foundation and she has built the relevance of The Science
Channel—which I believe has the potential to be our next great global brand.
On behalf of the entire Discovery family, we wish Jane all the best in her
future endeavors. I am confident her track record of great success will
continue unabated!"

Root, former BBC Two
chief, said she would be returning home to the U.K. to “pursue other opportunities
in the media industry. While I could not be more excited to get back home, the
decision is bittersweet. I simply love Discovery and all that the brand and
company represent.”

Ford rejoined Discovery
Communications in September to take the helm of Discovery Times Channel and the
Military Channel. He was previously the executive VP of programming at National
Geographic Channel, following 13 years at Discovery. “John Ford is one of the
best programming and operating executives in the nonfiction space, and having
known him for more than a decade, he is the perfect executive to lead Discovery
Channel into the future,” Zaslav said. “It was important to Discovery’s
long-term success to bring John’s tremendous talent to the company a few months
ago and I am confident that his history with Discovery, familiarity with the
brand's heritage and ground-breaking creative vision in nonfiction programming
will make this great brand bigger and bolder and continue its strong growth
trajectory.”

The new leadership for The
Science Channel, Discovery Times (soon to be named Investigation Discovery) and
Military Channel will be announced in the coming weeks.

—By Mansha Daswani