Discovery Hires for OTT Post

NEW YORK: Discovery Communications has named Michael Bishara as senior VP and general manager for OTT and digital syndication.

Bishara will lead Discovery’s OTT initiatives as well as the digital businesses for VOD, download-to-own, home video and short-form video syndication. He will be tasked with growing revenue and audiences across the company’s digital portfolio. Prior to joining Discovery, Bishara served as senior VP of digital products and general manager of OTT and TV Everywhere for Synacor.

“Michael is an accomplished executive whose ‘first in the industry’ experience with early iterations and evolutions of OTT products has provided him with an intimate knowledge of how to develop, launch and optimize a product,” said Karen Leever, the executive VP and general manager of Discovery Digital Media at Discovery Communications, to whom Michael reports. “We’re thrilled to have him on the team, and are looking forward to engaging even more audiences with our award-winning content in the future.”

“Discovery Communications is uniquely positioned in digital with its strong portfolio of brands—and consumers’ deep engagement with them,” added Bishara. “I look forward to working with such an incredible team and am excited by the tremendous opportunity to extend these brands and deliver new experiences while simultaneously driving incremental revenue.”