Nancy Dubuc Headshot Red - P 2012
Nancy Dubuc has been appointed to a newly established role — president of entertainment and media at A&E Networks.
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The promotion adds A&E and its affiliated brands to Dubuc’s portfolio, which already included History and Lifetime, giving her purview over all content creation, brand development and marketing for the A+E Networks’ portfolio. The appointment is effective immediately and also gives Dubuc will oversight of A+E Networks’ international and digital divisions.
Dubuc will continue to report to A+E Networks president and CEO Abbe Raven. But A&E president Bob DeBitetto and executive vp’s Dan Suratt and Steve Ronson will now report to Dubuc.
“A+E Networks is a leading global media company whose primary product is content,” said Raven in a statement. “Nancy is one of the most dynamic and creative executives working in media today. Having all our global brands and content creation under her purview brings a natural synergy given her track record of success.”
Dubuc’s rise at A+E has been swift since joining the company more than ten years ago as director of historical programming at History. She was named head of History in 2007 successfully overseeing the network’s transformation from a destination for musty historical documentaries to an unscripted power house with one of top unscripted shows in Pawn Stars. And last spring, Dubuc took History into scripted programming with the blockbuster miniseries Hatfields & McCoys, which averaged more than 13 million viewers each night and notched the top-three most-watched entertainment telecasts in ad-supported cable history. This spring, History will launch its first scripted series with the period drama Vikings.
Dubuc added Lifetime to her portfolio in April 2011 and set about giving the network best known for treacly women-in-peril movies and Hollywood makeover luring A-list stars (Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore) and last summer overseeing a network rebrand complete with new logo and tag line (“Your Life. Your Time”).
The ratings resurgence at Lifetime has not been as meteoric as that of History, but year-to-date Lifetime is up 11 percent in the 18-49 demographic that advertisers pay a premium to reach even if its posted more modest gains in the 25-54 demo (up 4 percent) and among total viewers (3 percent) versus the full year 2011.
“A+E Networks has been my home for over a decade, ” said Dubuc.“ I am so proud of these brands and my A+E colleagues who are truly the best in the business. I look forward to this next chapter working with Abbe and leading the network teams to new heights, expanding our global footprint and increasing our digital content offerings.”
