ESPN And ABC Cable Networks Group To Merge Affiliate Sales And Marketing Teams

ESPN and ABC Cable Networks Group to Merge Affiliate Sales and Marketing Teams
- Sean Bratches Named President of New Entity, Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing
The Affiliate Sales and Marketing teams for ESPN and ABC Cable Networks Group, will merge into one entity under the direction of ESPN veteran Sean Bratches, who has been promoted to the new post of President, Disney and ESPN Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing, it was jointly announced today by George Bodenheimer, Co-Chairman, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company, and President, ESPN and ABC Sports, and Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company, and President, Disney-ABC Television. Bratches will report to both Bodenheimer and Sweeney.
ABC Cable Networks Group's Ben Pyne has also been promoted to Executive Vice President, Disney and ESPN Affiliate Sales and Marketing, and will report to Bratches.
In conjunction with this change, Sweeney announced that the ABC Cable Networks Group would be renamed to the Disney ABC Cable Networks Group.
The new affiliate structure takes effect October 1 and encompasses all affiliate distribution, affiliate relations, affiliate marketing and local ad sales for the domestic cable and satellite networks of The Walt Disney Company: ABC Family, Disney Channel, SOAPnet, Toon Disney, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN HD. The new unit will also oversee the domestic distribution of related HDTV, broadband, video-on-demand, subscription video-on-demand, interactive television, pay-per-view, Spanish-language, and sports syndication products.
"Combining the affiliate sales and marketing teams at ESPN and Disney makes perfect business sense," Bodenheimer said. "This approach enables us to most effectively serve our customers as our affiliates continue to look for more product from us. Sean affiliate marketing business plan pdf and his staff have done an outstanding job driving core video sales as well as new revenue streams for ESPN affiliates, and Ben and his team have also generated tremendous growth and strong affiliate demand for Disney cable networks content."
Sweeney said, "The Walt Disney Company has leading cable television assets in family entertainment and sports, and we have been looking for ways to maximize the value of those assets for our customers. This is a strong step in that direction. Ben has led our networks' affiliate initiatives through their most dramatic growth periods, both in distribution and in the wide assortment of services that each provides. He and Sean will comprise the industry's most talented and dynamic management team in the affiliate sales arena."
Sean Bratches joined ESPN in 1988 and has been its Executive Vice President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing since 2001. Through his leadership, ESPN's emerging networks achieved record-setting growth: ESPN2 became the fastest cable network in history to reach 80 million homes, and has now reached virtual parity with ESPN; ESPN Classic now reaches more than 50 million homes, up from 7.5 million when ESPN acquired it in 1997; ESPNEWS is available in more than 40 million homes, and ESPN HD has secured contracts with affiliates representing over 70% of multichannel households. For the fourth year in a row, ESPN has been rated number one in perceived value among 40 cable networks measured in the Beta Research Corp.'s 2003 annual survey of cable operators. ESPN2 was ranked number two for the second straight year. In a similar study, ESPN ranked as the number one favorite network among all major cable network viewers and number one in perceived value.
In addition, Bratches and his team successfully created added value for affiliates by leveraging a number of high-profile ESPN brand extensions, including ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Radio, , ESPN Outdoors/BASS and the ESPN Zone.
Bratches is a 2001 recipient of the National Cable Television Association's (NCTA) Vanguard Award for Young Leadership and appeared on the CableFAX 100 list of "cable heavy hitters" each year since 1999. He is a member of the Board of Directors for ESPN, the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), for which he also serves on the Executive Committee and the non-profit T. Howard Foundation, an organization that promotes diversity in the satellite and telecommunications industry.
Ben Pyne joined The Walt Disney Company in 1992 and has been Senior Vice President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing, ABC Cable Networks Group, since 2000. He directed all cable and satellite distribution, local ad sales and affiliate marketing for ABC Cable Networks Group's wholly-owned cable networks, delivering consistent growth for each: ABC Family (87 million homes), Disney Channel (84 million homes), SOAPnet (38 million homes) and Toon Disney (46 million homes). Under his guidance, Disney Channel transitioned from a pay cable service to an expanded basic service and was the industry's ratings success story of 2003, tying as the #2 ranked basic cable network in Households and Total Viewers, vaulting to #2 from #6 in total day and from #8 in primetime households in just one year. Also for 2003, Disney Channel primetime was #1 in its targeted demographic of Kids 6-11 and #1 in total day and primetime with Tweens 9-14. Disney Channel also delivered double-digit year-to-year ratings increases in every demographic.
In addition, Pyne directed negotiations for retransmission consent agreements for the ABC Television Network's owned stations and has been a key participant in the development and launch of new businesses and services for The Walt Disney Company including the successful subscription video service "Disney Channel on Demand" and the high-speed access program "A Better Connection." His team also launched successful affiliate marketing and public affairs initiatives, among them "Playhouse Disney's A to Z" and "Learning Together," a critically acclaimed outreach program that recently received a Beacon Award for one of it components, Talk it Over SOAP.