• by Wayne Friedman , August 14, 2015

Boosted by strong ratings gains recently, Discovery Communications will give Discovery Channel chief Rich Ross added responsibilities.

Ross will now become group president of Discovery Channel, as well as another big Discovery Networks revenue generator, Animal Planet, and Science Channel. Ross was named president of Discovery Channel in October 2014.

While many cable networks have witnessed recent viewership declines, Discovery Channel climbed 10% in prime-time Nielsen viewership in the C3 metric, average commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifting.

Discovery’s U.S. Networks grew 2% in prime time during the period.

Rick Holzman, general manager of Animal Planet, will now report to Ross. Holzman previously reported to Marjorie Kaplan, who was group president TLC, Animal Planet and Velocity. Last week. Kaplan moved to a new role of president of content for Discovery Networks International.

Science Channel will continue to be run by current general manager Rita Mullin, who will report to Ross.

Discovery Life Channel will now report to Nancy Daniels, EVP/GM of TLC. Howard Lee, EVP of development and production of TLC will be general manager of Discovery Life Channel, continuing to report to Daniels.

Henry Schleiff, group president, continues to head Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel and Destination America. Also Bob Scanlon has been named general manager of Velocity and Automotive Content.