Skydance Distribution Chief Ray Hopkins Unveils Leadership Team & Executive Departures

In the latest in a series of organizational announcements following the closing of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger into Skydance, the newly combined company has set its top distribution troops.

Ray Hopkins, the longtime CBS veteran who is now distribution president of Skydance, sent an internal memo Tuesday outlining the newly minted execs in his organization and also noting several departures.

Distribution deals will be overseen jointly by Sarah Bergman and Mickey Carter, both of whom hold the title of EVP, Distribution. Bergman has been with HBO and WBD for 14 years, while Carter brings more than a decade of Paramount and CBS experience. Their portfolio spans CBS owned-and-operated stations, 55 basic cable networks, two premium networks, plus subscription streamers Paramount+, HBO Max and Discovery+; free streamer Pluto TV; and more than 100 FAST channels.

While distribution is a hugely important business area for all players in the media sector, it is particularly crucial for Skydance, which has almost $80 billion in debt following the $110 billion transaction. In order to reduce that leverage, the company will need to wring as much cash as possible from its partners, but it is also constrained by a consent decree established by state attorneys general in the resolution of an antitrust lawsuit. The agreement requires Skydance to negotiate carriage deals for the Paramount and WBD families of assets as though they were still run by separate companies.

Hopkins said eight execs will be exiting Skydance as part of the new appointments, including WBD’s Rivka Golomb, Kelly Kane, Jeff Cross and Rich Palermo; and Paramount vets David Comisar, Kurt Davis, Deena Demasi and Ken Kay.

Other executive appointments include the following:

Brad Shipley, EVP, Business Development & Strategy. Shipley, who joined CBS 13 years ago, will oversee strategy, new growth partnerships, Pluto TV and FAST distribution, advanced advertising partnerships as well as business planning and analytics and also be distribution lead for Skydance Global Sports Group.

Patrick Cavanaugh, EVP & CFO, Distribution Finance. Following nearly 14 years at the YES Network, has spent the last decade at CBS and Paramount. He will lead economics for all linear and streaming negotiations, manage the linear affiliate revenue life cycle from deal negotiation through cash collection as well as all budgeting, forecasting and reporting.

Rick Baker, EVP, Deputy General Counsel, Distribution, Business & Legal Affairs. Baker, who joined MTV Networks in 2011, will oversee business and legal affairs for Skydance’s distribution across linear and streaming, including domestic broadcast, premium and cable networks, P+, HBO Max, Discovery +, Pluto TV and FAST. With Rick’s new role, Jeff Cross, EVP, Legal, Distribution & Commercial Partnerships will be leaving the organization but will remain a senior advisor to the distribution group.

Joe Bahr, SVP, Partner Operations. With more than 20 years across HBO, WarnerMedia and WBD, Bahr will manage operational issues across our partners, serve as the liaison to product and tech teams, and support delivery of linear and VOD offerings to distributors.

Andrew Borak, SVP, Marketing. After starting in affiliate marketing at MTV 20 years ago, Borak has been SVP, Distribution Marketing for Paramount for the past six years. He will lead our combined distribution marketing function, market to distributors and with distributors, lead cross-brand distribution initiatives, and prepare marketing strategies for distribution renewals.

Bob Aguanno, SVP, CBS Affiliate Relations. The 25-plus-year CBS veteran will manage our relationships with roughly 200 CBS affiliate TV stations and work closely with the CBS Network affiliate board.

John Bagwell, SVP, Associate General Counsel. Bagwell has served for more than a decade as lead counsel for CBS Network distribution via the CBS affiliated stations and will negotiate contracts with the station groups and the CBS Network affiliate board.

The distribution moves were first reported Tuesday by Reuters.