Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Kathleen Finch, CEO of its U.S. cable networks group, is retiring.
The company last week took a $9 billion write-down against its cable networks, whose value has declined as cord-cutting has eroded profits and revenues.
Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group, will run the U.S. networks business when Finch departs at year-end.
Finch was a top programming executive at Scripps Networks when it was acquired by Discovery, and was Discovery’s top programmer when it acquired WarnerMedia from AT&T.
“It has been an honor to spend the past 25 years at Scripps, Discovery, and now Warner Bros. Discovery,” Finch said. “I began my journey at the fledgling Food Network and am so proud to have helped turn it into a cable powerhouse, and then to lead the team developing some of the most addictive unscripted franchises across HGTV and TLC, creating household names out of chefs and house flippers, and capturing the cultural conversation with real-life stories.”
Warner Bros. Discovery has been cutting costs under CEO David Zaslav. The company’s stock price is $7.34 a share, up a bit from its 52-week low of $6.64 a share, but down about half of its 52-week high and more than $20 a share in 2022.
“There is no one better at developing captivating content, compelling talent, and meaningful lifestyle brands than Kathleen, who has been my partner as we built our premier entertainment networks at Discovery and created Warner Bros. Discovery as an unscripted powerhouse,” Zaslav said.
“While I understand her longstanding decision to retire, I will certainly miss her, as will the entire company, which has benefitted from her unmatched collaboration and unique understanding of what our audiences crave,” he added. “Channing is an unparalleled creative executive who has shepherded countless award-winning hit shows. She has the ideal expertise and experience — as a content developer, platform programmer and network executive — to lead the U.S. networks.”
