Discovery names Kaplan int’l content president

Discovery Communications veteran Marjorie Kaplan has been named president of content Discovery Networks International.

The newly created role will see Kaplan relocate from New York to London, starting this October.

She has been with Discovery for more than 20 years, and is noted as for having launched Discovery Kids, running Animal Planet and, more recently, female-skewed TLC.

She will report to DNI president JB Perrette. As a result of her appointment, chief creative officer Phil Craig and senior VP, programming and content operations Rosemary Newell will now report to Kaplan.

Most recently president of female-skewed TLC and interim Discovery Channel president before the hire of Rich Ross, Kaplan is now responsible for all global brands and formats, female lifestyle programming, male-skewed factual, scripted programming and kids, across pay TV, free TV and OTT.

She will oversee the DNI development and production teams, working with local managing directors and content chiefs. She will also work closely with Discover-owned UK producers Raw, Betty and All3Media.

Furthermore, DNI has charged her with maximising the value of the Olympic Games rights Discovery recently won the right to broadcast between 2018-2024. This will see her creating new content and storytelling ideas to go with the sporting event.

“Our global content capability and expertise is our most important asset, and I am thrilled to have Marjorie’s immense talent to help drive our international content strategy,” said DNI chief Perrette.