Starz Promotes Cross To SVP And Hoy To VP In Business & Legal Affairs

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Steve Beabout, Starz Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary announced two promotions in the Business & Legal Affairs group.

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Kevin Cross was promoted to Senior Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs. In this expanded position, Cross assumes increased legal and business affairs responsibilities previously held by Michael Thornton, who was recently promoted to Chief Revenue Officer.  Reporting to Beabout, Cross now leads the Business & Legal Affairs functions for the company's programming acquisitions teams, while also assuming business and legal affairs responsibility for all of Starz Worldwide Distribution and distribution related matters for Starz Digital Media.  Cross, a 10-year industry veteran, joined Starz in 2010 as Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs after holding a position at DISH where he served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel.

Todd Hoy was promoted to Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs – Distribution for Starz from his previous position as Senior Counsel.  Hoy is responsible for supporting business and legal affairs with affiliates for all of Starz' linear, on-demand and online authenticated services, including STARZ ON DEMAND and STARZ PLAY.  Prior to joining Starz in 2011, Hoy served as corporate counsel for DISH, supporting business and legal affairs for programming, including linear, pay-per-view, video-on-demand, online authentication, interactive television and advertising sales.

Beabout commented, "Kevin has been a strong leader in the Business & Legal Affairs group and demonstrated a keen understanding of the respective Starz business and the legal matters affecting their operations during this aggressive period of growth and new activity. Similarly, Todd has proven to be an invaluable contributor for the core Starz pay TV business, with a great understanding of business matters for our respective distribution agreements and relations. I congratulate both on their well-deserved promotions."

About Starz
Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television channels (Starz Networks), global content distribution (Starz Distribution) and animated television and movie production (Starz Animation), www.starz.com.

Starz Networks is a leading provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® pay TV networks which showcase premium original programming and movies to U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies.  As of June 30, 2013, STARZ and ENCORE serve a combined 56.9 million subscribers, including 21.8 million at STARZ, and 35.1 million at ENCORE, making them the largest pair of premium flagship channels in the U.S.  STARZ® and ENCORE®, along with Starz Networks' third network MOVIEPLEX®, air more than 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, complemented by On Demand and authenticated online offerings through STARZ PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and MOVIEPLEX PLAY.  Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires entertainment content, distributing it to consumers globally on DVD, digital formats and traditional television.  Starz Distribution's home video, digital media and worldwide distribution business units distribute original programming content produced by Starz, as well as entertainment content for itself and third parties.  Starz Animation produces animated TV and movie content for studios, networks, distributors and audiences worldwide.

Contact:

Eric Becker
Starz
(720) 852-4065
eric.becker@starz.com 

SOURCE Starz