By Kevin McCauley
Elisabeth Murdoch has recruited Rich Ross, who was chairman of Walt
Disney Studios and president of Disney Channels Worldwide, as CEO of
her Shine America TV production house.
He takes over for Carl Fennessy, who as planned will return to
Australia mid-2013 after a two-year stint. Ross will join SA in January.
Murdoch called Ross a "world-class executive and the ideal leader to
build on our extraordinary momentum at Shine America," according to
her statement.
Ross began his career at Nickelodeon, rising to VP-program enterprises
before moving to FX Networks in 1993 as part of its launch team in
charge of development and production.
He joined DCW in 1996 and developed programs such as, "Hannah
Montana," "Lizzie McGuire" and "That's So Raven."
As chairman of Disney Studios from October 2009 to last April, Ross
released "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," "Alice in
Wonderland," "The Muppets" and Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 3" and "Cars
2."
Shine America's shows are "MasterChef" (Fox) and "The Biggest
Loser" (NBC) and the now joined by upcoming series "The Face" (Oxygen).
Shine is part of News Corp.
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