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O’Neill wins Discovery global role

Discovery Communications has picked the head of Discovery Channel to lead its worldwide production division and take up a position on the board of directors at All3Media.

Eileen O’Neill will manage Discovery’s in-house production units, as well as those of UK production companies Betty and Raw, in the newly created position of global group president of Discovery Studios.

O’Neill will also join the board of All3Media, once Discovery’s £550m (US$930m) joint-venture purchase of the firm with Liberty Global, announced in May, has closed.

The exec has been with Discovery Communications for 25 years and most recently served as Discovery Channel, Science Channel and Velocity Networks group president.

The company has tapped Marjorie Kaplan, group president of TLC and Animal Planet networks, to serve as interim head of the Discovery Channel while its next leader is sought.

David Zaslav, president and CEO of Discovery Communications, said O’Neill will “accelerate the growth, output and development of our production engines, and oversee the strategy and investment in new programming, new content creators, new categories and new technologies.”

O’Neill will report to Bruce Campbell, who currently oversees the Discovery Studios Group in his recently expanded role of chief development and digital media officer and general counsel for Discovery Communications.

Meanwhile, Edward Sabin will continue in his role as chief operating officer of Discovery Channel, as well as TLC, Science Channel and Velocity.

O’Neill is credited with turning TLC into a top-five cable network for women with series such as Long Island Medium and Cake Boss in her two-and-a-half decades at Discovery, while Discovery says she has also helped increase viewing of Discovery Channel among men in recent years with initiatives such as Shark Week.

Discovery has been expanding its production capacity through acquisition since the 2011 purchase of London-based indie Betty. In March this year it acquired another UK prodco, Raw TV, for an undisclosed fee prior to its headline-grabbing deal for All3Media.

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