As Starz continues its internal changes, several high-ranking members have left the company, a Starz spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap. This is part of a larger company-wide restructuring as the premium cable network prepares to make its transition to becoming a standalone company.
Altogether, senior vice president of original programming Kathryn Tyus-Adair, director of original programming Alex Alberts, manager of original programming Jordan Lippetz and senior vice president and head of production Kevin Hamburger were impacted by the change.
Moving forward, Samantha Nissen will head current programming with Sebastian Arboleda reporting to her. Christina Jokanovich will head development with Tara Roy reporting into her, and Giovanna Desselle will work on both current programming and development. Karen Bailey will step in as head of production following Hamburger’s departure and will handle creative on select titles.
This isn’t the first major shakeup the company has seen in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Starz announced it was to lay off 10% of its staff and that it was ceasing operations in the U.K. and Australia. This news came shortly after the company announced it was pulling out of Latin America in a recent earnings call.
At the time of the announced layoffs, CEO Jeffrey Hirsch explained these changes were made “to align our organization with the growth areas of the business and to prepare us for our next chapter as a standalone company.”
Currently, Starz is angling to separate itself from its parent company, Lionsgate. The split was originally supposed to take place in September of this year. But due to Lionsgate’s acquisition of eOne as well as uncertainties around the now-resolved WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, it was delayed until early 2024. During Lionsgate’s most recent earnings call, the company noted that most of its quarterly losses were related to charges from its upcoming separation from Starz. During that same quarter, Starz gained 200,000 domestic subscribers.
Deadline was the first to report this story.
