Rich Ross
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania
Fordham University School of Law
OccupationFormer President of Discovery Channel Discovery Channel
SpouseAdam Sanderson

Rich Ross is the former Group President of Discovery Channel and Science Channel. Earlier in his tenure at Discovery he also oversaw Animal Planet and Velocity (TV network).[1] Previously he was the Chief Executive Officer of Shine America,[2] responsible for commercial strategy of the Shine Group in the United States.[3] He was also the president of entertainment at Disney Channel, and chairman of Walt Disney Studios. When Ross was named Chairman of Walt Disney Studios in 2009, he became the first openly gay studio chief.[4]

Ross discussed his plans for Discovery Channel on January 8, 2015 at the 2015 Television Critics Association press tour that included hiring key senior level executives to oversee documentaries and specials, as well as scripted programming.[5] He had the highest-rated Shark Week ever and its most-watched July ever.[6]

Early life

Ross grew up in Eastchester, New York.[7] His father, Marty, was a garment-industry executive, and his mother, Harriet, was a former teacher turned real-estate agent.[7][8] Ross is Jewish.[9] He graduated from Eastchester High School.[10] When he was 19, he was hired to work in the mail room at the William Morris Agency in New York.[7] He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and English. In 1986, he earned his J.D. degree from Fordham University.[11]

Career

Ross's first job in the entertainment industry was as a talent booker at Nickelodeon. He built the Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite talent relations department and oversaw casting and talent booking for the network's shows including Clarissa Explains It All and Hey Dude.[7] He served as executive producer of Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards. As vice president of program enterprises at Nickelodeon, Ross was involved in all original-programming deals and launched Nick News with Linda Ellerbee into syndication. He was a part of the launch team for Nickelodeon's first international network, Nickelodeon UK. He joined FX Networks in 1993 and was a member of the executive team that launched the cable network.[12]

Disney

In 1996, Ross joined Disney Channel in programming and production as a senior vice president, becoming general manager and executive vice president in 1999. In 2002 he became president of entertainment for Disney Channel, before being named president of Disney Channels Worldwide in 2004, where he oversaw the Disney Channel, Disney XD, Playhouse Disney, Disney Cinemagic, Hungama, GXT, Jetix, and Radio Disney brands. He is credited with establishing Disney's global kids' TV business as the prime entertainment source for the tween market with shows like Hannah Montana, Lizzie McGuire,[8] Wizards of Waverly Place, Shake It Up,The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck, That's So Raven and Phineas and Ferb. He launched the highly successful Disney Channel Original Movie franchise that produced the worldwide hit High School Musical series, as well as the Camp Rock and The Cheetah Girls series. Popular Playhouse Disney shows developed during his tenure include Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.[13]

Ross was named Chairman of Walt Disney Studios in October 2009, overseeing Disney's film, music, and theatrical groups. Films released during Ross' tenure include the billion-dollar hits Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Disney's Alice in Wonderland and Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 3, which are three of the top 11 highest-grossing films of all time;[14] Disney's The Muppets; DreamWorks Studios' The Help; and Disney-Pixar's Cars 2.[15]

Ross' tenure as Chairman was marred by two box-office flops. The 2011 animated movie Mars Needs Moms had a production budget of $150 million[16] and made $42.8 million in box office and DVD sales.[17] The March 2012 opening of John Carter was another high-profile flop; John Carter had a production budget of $250 million and earned just over $69 million at the box office in North America.[18] Due to the film's weak North American performance compared to its high production and marketing costs, Disney expected the film would generate a loss of about $200 million during its second fiscal quarter,[19] although its box office strength outside North America led some analysts to speculate that the write-down would be significantly less than expected.[20]

Ross left Disney on April 20, 2012, with the underperformance of John Carter and Mars Needs Moms cited as reasons for his departure.[21] It was reported that Ross sought to blame Pixar for John Carter, which prompted key Pixar executives to turn against Ross who already had alienated many within the studio.[22][23]

Shine America

Rich Ross became the Chief Executive Officer for Shine America in January 2013.[24] He was responsible for the ongoing commercial strategy of the Shine Group in the United States, overseeing production, distribution and marketing of original programming across broadcast, cable and digital platforms.[25][2]

Discovery

Rich Ross was with Discovery Communications from 2015 to 2018. He became President of Discovery Channel in January 2015 and in August of the same year was named Group President of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and Science Channel.[12] In January 2017, he was also named President of Velocity, a channel that focuses on cars, sports and other topics targeted at men. He oversaw creative and brand strategy, development, production, marketing and all day-to-day operations for the four networks across all platforms that includes digital and social media.[26][27]

In the wake of Discovery's acquisition of Scripps Interactive in 2018, Ross departed the company.[28] In contrast to Ross's reported intention to bring more scripted programming to the network,[29] CEO David Zaslav reaffirmed the organization's commitment to unscripted programming, characterizing the genre as more profitable and viable for Discovery.[30] Notably, the premiere of Manhunt: Unabomber, a scripted "tentpole" program produced during Ross's tenure,[31] averaged 1.3 million viewers, -17% lower than the unscripted program that aired one hour earlier.[32] Ross was replaced by Nancy Daniels, head of TLC.[33] Susanna Dinnage was named President of Animal Planet Global.[34]

Personal life

He is married to his longtime partner Adam Sanderson.[24] In February 2017, he was selected to join the Board of Overseers for the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.

References

  1. ^ Hipes, Patrick (March 1, 2018). "Rich Ross Out At Discovery In Exec Shakeup; Scripps' Kathleen Finch Adds To Oversight". Deadline.com. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Flint, Joe (October 30, 2012). "Former Disney Executive Rich Ross Lands at Shine America". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  3. ^ Rose, Lacey (October 28, 2014). "Shine America's Rich Ross to Depart". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  4. ^ "Disney's Rich Ross: Hollywood's first openly gay studio chairman". The Los Angeles Times. October 6, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  5. ^ De Moraes, Lisa (January 8, 2015). "Fake Stuff Out at Discovery Channel, Promises New Chief Rich Ross: TCA". Deadline. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  6. ^ "Rich Ross Expands Discovery Communications' Portfolio". The Hollywood Reporter. August 13, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d Chmielewski, Dawn C. (June 21, 2009). "Rich Ross had a Mouse ear for 'tween' talent". Fordham University. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Woodruff, Jay (August 10, 2011). "Rich Ross Makes Moves (And Movies) At Disney". Fast Company.
  9. ^ Berrin, Danielle (October 8, 2009). "Disney's first openly gay exec". Jewish Journal. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  10. ^ Chapman, Mark (April 18, 2012). "Eastchester High To Stage 'Beauty and the Beast'". Daily Voice. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  11. ^ "Do You Know Where Your Kids Are? Disney's Rich Ross Probably Does". Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. March 4, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  12. ^ a b de Moraes, Lisa (October 28, 2014). "Rich Ross Named Discovery Channel President". Deadline. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  13. ^ "Walt Disney Investor Relations" (PDF). Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  14. ^ "All-Time Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  15. ^ "Rich Ross, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios". The Walt Disney Studios. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  16. ^ Kaufman, Amy (March 10, 2011). "Movie Projector: 'Battle: Los Angeles' will rule, 'Mars Needs Moms' will bomb". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  17. ^ "Mars Needs Moms". The Numbers. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  18. ^ "John Carter". boxofficemojo.com. April 22, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
  19. ^ Ben Child (March 20, 2012). "John Carter set to lose Disney $200m". The Guardian. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  20. ^ Georg Szalai (March 14, 2012). "Analyst: Disney's 'John Carter' Write-Down 'May Not Be as Bad as Feared'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  21. ^ Disney film boss Rich Ross resigns after John Carter flop, BBC News, April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  22. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn (April 21, 2012). "Rich Ross' departure sends aftershocks at Disney". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  23. ^ Masters, Kim (April 20, 2012). "Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross Resigns". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  24. ^ a b Rose, Lacey (December 18, 2013). "Shine's Rich Ross on One Year Back in TV -- and What Happened at Disney (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  25. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 30, 2012). "Rich Ross Named CEO of Shine America". Deadline. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  26. ^ Reynolds, Mike (October 28, 2014). "Discovery Channel Names Rich Ross President". Multichannel News. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  27. ^ Nakamura, Reid (August 13, 2015). "Discovery Communications' Rich Ross Becomes Group President". The Wrap. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  28. ^ "Discovery Communications Names Executive Leadership Team for Combined Company – Discovery Communications, Inc". corporate.discovery.com. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  29. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (March 1, 2018). "Rich Ross exits Discovery Communications in executive shake-up ahead of merger with Scripps". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  30. ^ Hayes, Dade (February 27, 2018). "Discovery Chief David Zaslav On Why He Is Doubling Down On Unscripted: "We Don't Do Red Carpets Or Fancy Openings"". Deadline. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  31. ^ "If Discovery's Unabomber Series Is a Hit, It Could Launch a New Network Franchise". Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  32. ^ Welch, Alex (August 2, 2017). "Tuesday cable ratings: 'Manhunt: Unabomber' premieres, 'WWE Smackdown' holds steady". TV By The Numbers. Archived from the original on August 3, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  33. ^ Hipes, Patrick (March 1, 2018). "Rich Ross Out At Discovery In Exec Shakeup; Scripps' Kathleen Finch Adds To Oversight". Deadline.
  34. ^ Albiniak, Paige (November 9, 2017). "Susanna Dinnage Named Global President of Animal Planet". The Daily Brief. Retrieved July 23, 2021.

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