Genius Brands International has appointed Margaret Loesch, founding president and CEO of Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, as executive chairman of Kartoon Channel!, while David Neuman, former president of Walt Disney Television, has been named chief creative officer of the digital channel.<\/p>\n
During her time at Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, Loesch grew the channels across all metrics (it was eventually sold to the Walt Disney Company for $5.5 billion). Prior to Fox Kids, Loesch served as president and CEO of Marvel Productions and previously as president of The Jim Henson Company and founding president and CEO of the U.S. Hallmark Channel and Crown Media U.S. She also served as president of the Hub, which was a joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery.<\/p>\n
As president of Walt Disney Television and Touchstone Television, Neuman oversaw\u00a0The Wonderful World of Disney<\/em>,\u00a0Boy Meets World<\/em>,\u00a0Ellen<\/em> and Home Improvement<\/em>.\u00a0 Prior to that, as VP of comedy at NBC, he oversaw iconic series, such as Cheers<\/em>, Family Ties<\/em>, Golden Girls<\/em> and Alf<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have known and admired Margaret and David for many years,\u201d said Andy Heyward, CEO of Genius Brands. \u201cThere are no two more accomplished executives in our industry than Margaret Loesch and David Neuman. One doesn\u2019t become the president of multiple children\u2019s networks, or the president of Walt Disney Television, respectfully, without a reputation of being \u2018Best in Class.\u2019 Their collective knowledge and relationships with the advertiser community, the creative community, and the distribution community in kid\u2019s broadcasting is at the pinnacle of the field. They play to win, and nothing less. Having Margaret and David leading Kartoon Channel!, along with General Manager Caroline Tyre and Director of Content and Acquisitions Mark Shoeman, is going to be a tremendous jump start to creating viewership and market share, advertiser demand, and attracting the most powerful creative content and marketing in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n Heyward added: \u201cThere is a huge appetite for quality children\u2019s content that is family-friendly and safe. No less important is having it available for free and with no subscription fees will be compelling now to more and more parents who are looking to provide quality children\u2019s entertainment options for their kids.\u00a0 It will be equally important to advertisers, who are increasingly finding fewer channels to reach viewers, in a universe dominated by pay services such as Netflix and Disney+. Kartoon Channel! will be like a Netflix for kids, except it is free.\u201d<\/p>\n Loesch commented: \u201cI have admired David\u2019s accomplishments and reputation as an innovator and magnet for talent for years and have had the good fortune to work extensively with Andy over the years. This is a wonderful opportunity to work with both David and Andy and the Genius Brands\u2019 team where I will oversee and provide advice on the creation of a new destination for kids and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n Neuman added: \u201cThe creative community is poised for new content and new ways of delivering it to today\u2019s kids who have grown up in an on-demand nonlinear world, and I look forward to hitting the ground running as we gear up for a massive June 15 launch.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Genius Brands International has appointed Margaret Loesch, founding president and CEO of Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, as executive chairman of Kartoon Channel!, while David Neuman, former president of Walt Disney Television, has been named chief creative officer of the digital channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":18659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[5497,1503,2175],"class_list":["post-18657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-david-neuman","tag-genius-brands-international","tag-margaret-loesch","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n