• by Wayne Friedman , August 11, 2009

Television station sales representative Katz Television Group has created a new marketing group to focus on local TV stations' needs, particularly on new digital media efforts.

Veteran TV sales executive Ibra Morales has been hired as senior vp of national marketing, leading the new group that already includes senior executives Peter Chrisanthopoulous and Rob Russo.

While the company has a similar group for its radio stations, the company says this is its first effort to create a stand-alone department to focus on marketing to national advertisers. One of the group's main efforts is "geo-targeted" deals, which can deliver different content to TV viewers in similar locations and ZIP codes.

Jim Beloyianis, president of Katz Television Group, said in a release: "Our goal is to utilize our vast TV footprint for the advertising community and to create customized solutions across multiple video, mobile and web-based platforms."

Most recently, Morales had been vp of network operations at Estrella TV, a 24-hour Hispanic-language network. He also had been president of the Telemundo Station Group and senior vp of sales for Hearst-Argyle Television.