NatGeo Exec Shuffle: Names Hill Chairman, Monroe CEO

Just one day after the president of National Geographic Channels said he would resign, now the TV group is replacing its chief executive officer.

David Lyle is leaving as CEO of National Geographic Channels to be replaced by David Hill, currently senior executive vice president of 21st Century Fox, who will be chairman. National Geographic Channels is a joint venture of the National Geographic Society and 21st Century Fox.

Handling the day-to-day operations of National Geographic Channels will be, Courteney Monroe, chief marketing officer for National Geographic Channels’ domestic networks. She will become chief executive officer starting next month.

The National Geographic Channel was down 11% in overall prime-time viewers in the first quarter of this year to 543,000 viewers, while Nat Geo Wild gained 17% to 273,000 viewers. In daytime, the National Geographic Channel slipped 7% to 299,000, with Nat Geo Wild up 18% over the same time span.

Monroe had been at the Nat Geo marketing post since January 2012. Before National Geographic Channels, she was executive vice president, consumer marketing and digital platforms at HBO. In her new position, she will report to the board of directors of the National Geographic Channels.

David Hill, a long time veteran of News Corp. and Fox senior executive, originally joined Fox Broadcasting in 1993 as the first president of Fox Sports.

He had also been chairman/chief executive officer of the Fox Broadcasting Company and president of DirecTV’s entertainment division. Most recently, he had been COO/executive producer of the National Geographic Channel, as well as chairman/CEO of Fox Sports.

David Lyle held the top spot at National Geographic Channel for three years. Previously, he created the Fox Reality Channel and Fox Look, which produced and licensed unscripted formats for sale around the world. Before that, he was president of entertainment at FremantleMedia.

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