Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green have appointed two new executives.
Matt Butler, who joins from the Travel Channel, will lead programming and strategy for both networks from Discovery’s Silver Spring headquarters. He will report to Laura Michalchyshyn.
Fay Yu will serve as executive producer for both networks, and report to Lynn Sadofsky. She joins from the Food Network and Cooking Channel, where she was manager or programming.
“The addition of Matt and Fay further strengthens what is already a top-notch senior team for Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green. Their significant skill and expertise in delivering hugely-popular content will be invaluable as we continue to build these two young, emerging networks,” said Michalchyshyn in a statement.
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Read the entire release after the jump.
DISCOVERY FIT & HEALTH AND PLANET GREEN ADD MATT BUTLER AND FAY YU TO SENIOR TEAM
— Butler Joining as Vice President, Programming and Strategy; Yu as Executive Producer for Dual-Network Team —
(Silver Spring, Md.)— Cable industry veterans Matt Butler and Fay Yu have been named to the senior team at Discovery Communications networks, Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green. Effective immediately, they will join the dual-network team, reporting directly to Laura Michalchyshyn, General Manager for Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green.
Butler will lead programming and strategy for both networks from Discovery’s Silver Spring headquarters. In addition to scheduling and development responsibilities, Butler also will partner closely with the networks’ advertising sales and distribution teams.
Butler comes to Discovery from the Travel Channel, where he was head of programming and development. During his ten-year tenure there, he was responsible for overseeing scheduling tactics that accumulated record ratings growth, and made the network one of the fastest-growing cable franchises in 2009 and 2010. Butler championed many of the Travel Channel’s most popular titles including; Most Haunted, Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmerman, and Man vs. Food. In 2010 he was named to Multichannel News “40 under 40” list for industry visionaries, innovators and power brokers under the age of 40. Prior to his time at Travel, he held positions with PBS, QVC, and ESPN.
Yu will serve as executive producer for Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green, as both networks continue to develop and produce engaging original content and will report to Lynn Sadofsky. Yu will manage creative oversight for a variety of production projects and coordinate the efforts of outside production companies. In addition to her creative responsibilities, she also will partner closely with Butler and the development team to expand programming concepts and see them through to the on-air stage.
Yu comes to Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green from Food Network and Cooking Channel, where she was Manager of Programming for the past four years. In this role, she oversaw some of the most prominent Food Network series, including Iron Chef America, Barefoot Contessa, Unwrapped, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, and 5 Ingredient Fix. She contributed to the launch of Cooking Channel in May 2010, developing some of the first original series on the network including Hook, Line & Dinner and FoodCrafters. Prior to her time at Food Network and Cooking Channel, Yu worked with HGTV and the BBC.
“The addition of Matt and Fay further strengthens what is already a top-notch senior team for Discovery Fit & Health and Planet Green. Their significant skill and expertise in delivering hugely-popular content will be invaluable as we continue to build these two young, emerging networks,” said Laura Michalchyshyn in a statement.
