Discovery names Animal Planet boss

Discovery has upped Rick Holzman general manager of its Animal Planet channel.

Holzman is being elevated from executive VP of programming and scheduling at the non-fictoin net and he will continue to report to TLC and Animal Planet president Marjorie Kaplan in his new role.

He has been at Animal Planet since 2007 and was a programming and scheduling exec at Discovery prior to that. Before joining Discovery Communications he was at NBCUniversal’s USA Network and Viacom’s MTV.

“Rick Holzman is one of the most brilliant minds in the media industry and a key driver of Animal Planet’s significant growth as an entertainment destination over the last several years,” Kaplan said.”

The new Animal Planet boss will oversee all of the cable net’s content including its first-ever scripted offering, The Whale. The BBC and Animal Planet are making the two-hour TV movie