Ryan O’Hara, the president of TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com, is leaving the company, Lionsgate announced on Friday.
No replacement was named. O’Hara was said to be leaving for a new position elsewhere.
“Ryan will be missed, but Jon Feltheimer and I have tremendous confidence in the team of talented and entrepreneurial executives who will continue to build on TVGN and TV Guide.com’s momentum," said Allen Shapiro, TV Guide Network chairman, in a statement.
Lionsgate acquired the TV Guide Network nine months ago and has been reprogramming the channel from the Lionsgate library and with shows like "Ugly Betty," and did away with the scrolling listings that had been part of the network.
The veteran magazine associated with the brand was sold for $1 in 2008.
The studio reported net income of $31.7 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a net loss of $51.8 million for the same period last year, propelled partly by revenue from the TV Guide Network.
Here’s the full release:
Ryan O’Hara, President of TV Guide Network and TV Guide.com, is leaving effective immediately to take a new position in New York that will be announced next week, it was announced today by Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer and TV Guide Network Board Chairman Allen Shapiro.
During the nine months since TV Guide Network was acquired by Lionsgate and One Equity Partners was brought in as a partner, the network has acquired new programming such as ABC’s longrunning series Ugly Betty and HBO’s acclaimed hit Curb Your Enthusiasm, achieved back-to-back record ratings weeks with the December airings of the films DIRTY DANCING and DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS from Lionsgate’s library and the Susan Boyle story, and forged new long-term distribution agreements with Comcast and Charter. TV Guide.com has also achieved explosive growth, increasing from five to 21 million unique monthly users in the past three years.
TV Guide Network recently strengthened its management team with the announcement that respected industry veteran Diane Robina has been named Executive Vice President of Development, Acquisition and Programming Strategy. Robina also continues as President of Lionsgate’s branded multiplatform horror/thriller network FEARnet with partners Sony and Comcast. TV Guide Network and TV Guide.com will continue under the leadership of their current management teams under the overall direction of Feltheimer and Shapiro.
"Ryan and his management team have led TV Guide Network to a strong year of growth in both programming and distribution," said Feltheimer. "He has been a key architect of the channel’s continued evolution into a fully distributed, full screen general entertainment network that will play an important role in the cable landscape of the future."
“Ryan will be missed, but Jon Feltheimer and I have tremendous confidence in the team of talented and entrepreneurial executives who will continue to build on TVGN and TV Guide.com’s momentum," said Shapiro.
"We have a strong leadership team and a focused strategy to build TV Guide Network into a branded celebration of entertainment and fandom, so this is the right time for me to move on to another new entrepreneurial opportunity that has arisen," said O’Hara. "I enjoyed my eight years at TV Guide tremendously, and I believe the trajectory of the business has never been better. It is in perfect hands with Lionsgate and One Equity Partners."
