Starz Solidifies Senior Management Team

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Carmi Zlotnik and John Penney, both successful and experienced media executives, have been named to the new positions of Managing Director of Starz Media, and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development for Starz, LLC, Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht announced today.

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Zlotnik, who will be based in Starz' Beverly Hills offices and report to Albrecht, will manage production of the company's original series, including "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," the hit series that just concluded its first season and will begin shooting its second season later this year, the new dramatic series "Camelot," and additional series and mini-series that go into production in the future. He was most recently head of global operations for IMG Global Media with responsibilities for all aspects of IMG's international media business.  Prior to that, Zlotnik enjoyed a storied, 20-year career at HBO in various executive level capacities, including top responsibilities for original programming production, business development, new media and animation.

Penney, who will report to Albrecht and be based in Starz' Beverly Hills offices as well, will assist Albrecht in evaluating and building key business strategies, partnerships, and identifying and developing new business opportunities across the various Starz companies. Before working with Albrecht at Foresee Entertainment as President and Head of Corporate Development, Penney was Head of Strategy for IMG Global Media.  In addition to HBO, where he served as Senior Vice President, Digital Initiatives, he held executive positions at AT&T, Viacom, ACTV, Bernstein Research and Scient.

"Carmi and I have worked together for most of the last 20 years, so I know him to be an executive who has always demonstrated a terrific instinct for the creative as well as the nuts and bolts of production," Albrecht said. "His wealth of experience, coupled with his close working relationships with many talented producers, will be invaluable for Starz moving forward."

"Similarly, I have known John for many years, dating back to our days at HBO; he has a wealth of traditional and new media and technology experience which will be extremely helpful as we build Starz into a more multi-dimensional media company," Albrecht added. 

As part of the new structure at Starz, Bill Hamm is stepping down as EVP of production and development.

About Starz Entertainment

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 16.9 million and 30.6 million subscribers, respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies and new original series every month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Starz (Nasdaq: LSTZA), a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation. 

About Starz Media

Starz Media, LLC, is a programming production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming -- including theatrical films -- and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Capital Group.

SOURCE Starz Media, LLC