Fox Filmed Ent. upped Peter Levinsohn to president, Digital Media and Worldwide Pay Television. In this new role, Levinsohn will be responsible for managing digital media strategy for Fox, including leading the effort to establish robust content protection measures in the digital media marketplace; identifying content distribution opportunities; pursuing long-term strategic initiatives with major technology players; and developing opportunities to maximize the value of film and television product in emerging digital platforms. In this capacity he will work closely with the Fox Ent. Group's (FEG) strategic planning unit as well as senior management of the various FEG business units and will report to Fox chairmen Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman.
Levinsohn will also retain the responsibilities he had in his most recent role as evp, Worldwide Pay Television for 20th Century Fox in his promotion to division president, and will continue overseeing strategy and distribution for all licensing activities associated with Fox's feature film and television programming to all pay television, pay-per-view and video-on-demand outlets throughout the world. In addition, Levinsohn will manage the company's investments in premium movie channels in Australia, Latin America and Brazil. He will continue to report to Mark Kaner, president of 20th Century Fox Television Distribution.
Gianopulos and Rothman commented: "Peter's experience has given him a solid grasp of how to manage both the opportunities and the threats our industry is facing with the transition to digital distribution, making him the ideal executive to guide our overall strategy in this critical area of our business. He is also a long-time Fox veteran who knows this company and has proven his leadership ability."
Added Kaner: "Peter has been a pivotal player in the development of our pay television strategy over the years and his promotion to President of the division is much deserved."
Levinsohn joined 20th Century Fox in 1989 as manager, Finance and Administration in the International Theatrical division. He initially joined the Worldwide Pay Television division in 1990, and since has served in a variety of positions for the unit, including vp and svp of International Pay Television and Pay Per View.
Fox Filmed Ent. is a unit of the Fox Ent. Group, Inc., 82.1% owned by The News Corp. Ltd., which is principally engaged in the development, production and worldwide distribution of feature films and television programs, television broadcasting and cable network programming. Fox has total assets as of March 31, 2004 of approximately $30 billion and total annual revenues of approximately $12 billion. Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of Fox Filmed Ent., a unit of Fox Ent. Group.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
