Italian
Kathleen Finch, Warner Bros. Discovery‘s head of U.S. networks, had one piece of advice for her peers in the industry as she prepares to retire this month: “Stop using the word ‘cable.’”
“What we do is content,” Finch said during a keynote conversation at Content London. “And where it’s viewed is where the audience chooses to find it.”
It was announced in August that Finch would retire at the end of the year and will be replaced by Warner Bros. Television group chairman and CEO Channing Dungey. Before the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger in April 2022, Finch headed up Discovery’s 12 lifestyle brands including HGTV, TLC and Food Network. Post-merger, Finch oversaw almost all of U.S. networks including TBS, TNT, TruTV and Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.
She encouraged others in the linear business to “stop limiting ourselves to, ‘I’m a cable exec, I work in cable, I’m making cable content.’ That’s going away at some point, right? So what we all are is creatives. You make content, and then you put it on all these different places and the audience chooses to watch it whichever place they happen to prefer.”
Popular on Variety Finch said “I don’t consider myself a cable exec,” but instead a creative. “We make content — where it goes is almost out of our hands,” she said.
“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,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement when her retirement was announced. “While I understand her long-standing 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. 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 US Networks.”
