KELLY CLINE PROMOTED TO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS
AND LEGAL AFFAIRS, ENTERTAINMENT FOR FOX CABLE NETWORKS
Matthew Bensen Promoted to Senior Vice President, Business
and Legal Affairs, Network Distribution for Fox Cable
Networks
Phillip Gharabegian Promoted to Senior Vice President,
Business and Legal Affairs, Sports for Fox Cable Networks
Moves Complement Previously Announced Restructuring of Fox
Networks Group's Legal Team
June 6, 2012 - In a series of moves that
complement a previously announced restructuring of Fox
Networks Group's (FNG) business and legal affairs team,
FNG Executive Vice President and General Counsel Rita Tuzon
today announced several promotions within her team.
Long-time Fox business and legal affairs executive Kelly
Cline has been promoted from Senior Vice President to
Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs,
Entertainment for Fox Cable Networks (FCN). In his new
role, Mr. Cline who will continue to report to Ms. Tuzon,
will be responsible for the business and legal aspects of
FX, Fox Movie Channel, National Geographic Channel and NG
Wild. He will also oversee the day-to-day business and
legal affairs for all original series development,
production management and acquired programming, as well as
continue to implement the original programming growth
strategy for the channels.
Ms. Tuzon was delighted about the move. "Kelly is a
key executive in our entertainment group and brings not
only his legal expertise but important business
relationships across the spectrum of the entertainment
world. He's an extraordinary individual and this
promotion is in recognition of his tremendous
contributions."
Mr. Cline joined Fox in 1989, as Counsel for 20th Century
Fox Television and served as Senior Vice President, Legal
Affairs, before joining FCN in 2005, as Senior Vice
President, Business and Legal Affairs.
Mr. Cline earned a bachelor's degree from the
University of Southern California. He received his J.D.
from Gonzaga University, and his LL.M. degree from Boston
University.
Matthew Bensen, who previously served as Vice President,
Business and Legal Affairs, has been promoted to Senior
Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, Network
Distribution for FCN. Reporting to Claudia Teran, EVP
Business and Legal Affairs and Deputy General Counsel, Mr.
Bensen will continue to be a key player on the distribution
team through his strategic advice on, negotiation and
drafting of distribution agreements with multichannel video
programming distributors (MVPDs) for retransmission consent
for the FOX broadcast networks and distribution of the FCN
services across multiple platforms. Services include FX,
National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo Mundo,
Fox Movie Channel, FUEL TV, FOX Sports Networks (FSN) and
20 regional cable sports networks, SPEED, SPEED2, FOX
Soccer, FOX Soccer Plus, FOX College Sports and FOX
Deportes. Mr. Bensen will also continue to work with the
corporate transactional team on certain key matters.
Mr. Bensen has been with Fox since 2004. He joined the
company from the Los Angeles office of O'Melveny &
Myers, LLP, where he was an attorney focusing on a wide
array of transactional areas including finance, private
equity, IP and technology.
Mr. Bensen earned his bachelor's degree from the
University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota (summa cum
laude), and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law
School.
Phillip Gharabegian, who previously served as Vice
President, Business and Legal Affairs, has been promoted to
Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, Sports
for FCN. Mr. Gharabegian, who reports to Karen Brodkin, EVP
Business and Legal Affairs for FOX Sports Media Group, will
focus on the FSN regional networks in respect to
negotiation, drafting, analysis and review of multi-media
telecast rights agreements with professional sports teams,
collegiate multi-media telecast rights and sponsor
agreements, plus various other digital rights negotiation
with pro leagues. Additionally, Mr. Gharabegian provides
day-to-day business and legal affairs counsel for Home Team
Sports, an advertising sales unit of FOX Sports.
Prior to joining Fox in 2002, Mr. Gharabegian was an
attorney with Hogan & Hartson, LLP, where he had
significant involvement with the representation of Fox
Sports International in a sports joint venture transaction,
as well as News Corporation's sale of its interest in
Fox Family Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company.
Previously, Mr. Gharabegian was an Associate with Troop
Steuber Pasich Reddick & Tobey, LLC.
Mr. Gharabegian earned a bachelor's degree from
California State University, Northridge and his law degree
from Loyola Law School, where he was a recipient of the
American Jurisprudence Award.
"Fox Networks Group is the most successful programming
entity in television, and our success is due in no small
part to the strategic focus of our business-minded legal
team," said Ms. Tuzon. "These moves complement a
recent reorganization that streamlines our distribution and
content efforts across platforms, which will not only
improve efficiency but increase revenue opportunities for
our networks. Kelly, Matt and Phillip have been intimately
involved with these cross-platform efforts in the
entertainment, distribution and sports areas, and these
promotions recognize the valuable role they will play as we
take our content businesses to new heights in the coming
years."
Fox Networks Group, a primary operating unit of News
Corporation (NASDAQ:NWS), consists of Fox Broadcasting
Company (FOX), FOX Sports Media Group, the company's
national and regional cable programming services, FOX
International Channels, and Fox Networks Engineering &
Operations. These units produce, program and transmit much
of America's most popular entertainment, sports and
information content via 43 owned-and-operated TV networks,
video on demand and other media platforms. FOX is
America's most popular network; Fox Networks Group
cable channels span FX, National Geographic Channel, Nat
Geo WILD, Nat Geo Mundo, Fox Movie Channel, FUEL TV, FSN
and 20 regional cable sports networks, SPEED, SPEED2, FOX
Soccer Channel, FOX Soccer Plus, FOX College Sports, FOX
Deportes, Utilisima, Baby TV, BTN (co-venture with the Big
Ten Conference), BTN2Go; and FOX International Channels
include more than 350 networks delivered in 35 languages
across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The division
also includes Fox Sports Enterprises, which manages
interests in sports franchises and leading statistical
information provider STATS, LLC.
Contact:
Scott Grogin 310-369-4733 scott.grogin@fox.com
Sol Doten 310-369-0009 sol.doten@fox.com
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