Spike TV has appointed Tom Zappala as the executive vice president of programming, the company announced in a statement.
Zappala spent eight years as the executive vice president of acquisitions and scheduling at Disney/ABC Cable Networks Group before his return to Viacom, where he had been SVP of programming, overseeing programming and research operations for the company's 35-owned and operated television stations.
Read more: Mark Burnett Executive Producing Video Game Awards for Spike TV
At Spike, Zappala will report to network president Kevin Kay and oversee all scheduling, media planning and acquisitions as the network continues to expand its line-up of male demographic-aimed programming.
"We are thrilled to have one of the top programmers in the industry join our team," Kay said in the statement. "Tom has a proven track record of success and we look forward to utilizing his wealth of programming experience as Spike continues to grow and expand its audience."
While at ABC Family, Zappala helped the network acquire movies like the "Harry Potter" series and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," oversaw co-production of sequels in the "Bring It On" and "Cutting Edge" franchises and acquired off-net series like "Gilmore Girls," "That '70s Show" and "My Wife and Kids."
