Disney’s Chief Compliance Officer Out Amid Layoffs

Ana de Armas celebrated a huge milestone this weekend. The Cuban actress hosted Saturday Night Live and was accompanied by musical guest Karol G, resulting in SNL’s first Latina-fronted show.

The CW has tapped Roku Senior Director Ashley Hovey as its first chief digital officer, the network announced Tuesday.Hovey, who will begin responsibilities for the newly created role April 17, will oversee business strategy and day-to-day operations of the network’s digital operations and streaming platforms. She will report to The CW Network president Dennis Miller.After serving in roles across the entertainment industry at Comcast, where she served as senior director of advertising strategy and development, as well as British Telecom and Nielsen, Hovey joins the network from Roku, where she spent five years overseeing ad-supported business for The Roku Channel, encompassing both on-demand and FAST channel content as well as audience engagement and growth.In her role as a senior director at Roku, Hovey is credited with building and managing the Kids and Family, FAST, Music and Espacio Latino businesses, as well as driving overall partner strategy and monetization.“We are thrilled to have an all-star digital business strategist like Ashley Hovey join our senior leadership team,” Miller said in a statement. “Ashley is a trailblazer who knows what it takes to build a successful entertainment brand from the ground up and we look forward to having her play a vital role in helping us expand and monetize The CW Network’s digital footprint.”The CW App, which has logged over 92 million downloads to date, features the network’s primetime programming, livestream of sports content and other on-demand TV and film content.

The CW Network has named Ashley Hovey chief digital officer, a newly created position, starting April l7 reporting to President Dennis Miller.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The CW network has tapped Roku exec Ashley Hovey as the broadcaster’s first-ever chief digital officer. Per the the Nexstar-owned CW, in this new role, Hovey will be responsible for overseeing the business strategy and day-to-day operations of the network’s digital operations and OTT streaming platforms, including the CW App. An AVOD platform, the CW App has over 92 million downloads to date and serves as home of new episodes and seasons of the CW’s primetime programs, live streaming of its sports content and on-demand library. Hovey, who most recently served as senior director of the ad-supported business for The Roku Channel (TRC), including both on-demand and FAST channel content, will begin her duties at the CW April 17. She will report to Dennis Miller, president of the CW.

The Scream franchise has grossed over $500 million at the domestic box office and we’re taking a look at which films have made the most money.

th Century Studios’ “Free Guy” and “Prey,” along with Disney+ hit series including “The Mandalorian,” “WandaVision,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “Loki,” among many others. In all, Ayaz has led the campaigns for the most watched films on Disney+ and Hulu, and 13 of the top 15 box office debuts of all time, including six opening weekends over $200 million, as well as the biggest worldwide debut of all time for “Avengers: Endgame,” which earned over $1.2 billion in five days. An award-winning marketing leader, Ayaz has been the recipient of multiple industry honors, including Variety’s Marketing Visionaries Award and The Clio Marketing Mastermind Award.

Effective immediately, Walt Disney Studios President of Marketing and 18-year studio vet, Asad Ayaz, has been named the first-ever Chief Brand Officer of The Walt Disney Company.

Nick Cave has opened up about holding centrist political views, saying that he doesn’t “really know about anything for sure”.In the latest post on his Red Hand Files Q&A website, the Bad Seeds frontman responded to a fan, Daphne, who asked him if he liked raisins.She said: “I feel like I don’t ever know what I want or what to think and how I am just always confused about things, and I suppose hating raisins has been a pretty consistent thing in my life and in that sense I guess I should be grateful for it. And maybe try to like them in that way.”Another follower, Alister, submitted the question: “Where do you sit politically[?] I can never work it out.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s international teams are braced for layoffs and content cuts.

For the first time, Bob Iger is speaking out and addressing the ongoing battle between the company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He also answered a frankly bizarre question about the company’s so-called “woke agenda,” both with the kind of poise and composure that made him such a favorite of his employees as well as the shareholders, during the Disney Shareholders meeting.“Let me if you don’t mind let me address this issue which I haven’t really done much publicly. But I’d love the opportunity just to put it all in perspective.

Bob Iger is back, debonaire, relaxed, articulate and talking up Disney IP via video in front of Walt Disney Word, where the company appears to have outmaneuvered Ron DeSantis for control. He also fianlly spoke his mind on the simmering feud, telling the company’s virtual annual shareholder meeting today that the governor’s apparent “retaliation” against Disney for exercising a right to free speech “is not only anti-business, but anti-Florida,” given the jobs, taxes, resources and revenue Disney provides the state.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Returned CEO Bob Iger made a rare public comment about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ moves to “punish” Disney for its position against Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” Bill last year during the company’s annual shareholders meeting Monday, calling the decision “not just anti-business, but anti-Florida.” “It seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us,” Iger said, referring to DeSantis’ power struggle with Disney in Florida, the home of Disney World, in an attempt “to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right.” “That seems really wrong to me,” he added. “We’re currently planning now to invest over $17 billion Disney World over the next 10 years,” Iger said, noting that Disney estimates this will lead to 13,000 new jobs within the company and “thousands of indirect jobs” in the state, thus bringing in more taxes for Floriday.

Disney’s former head of communications Zenia Mucha is advising TikTok as the beleagued company fights calls to shut it down in the U.S. on security concerns, Deadline has confirmed. It’s already banned across the Federal government with President Biden recently ramping up demands that the global app’s Chinese parent sell the U.S. business to a company Stateside, or see it vanish.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Zenia Mucha, formerly Disney’s top spokesperson for almost two decades, was recruited to be part of the team that coached TikTok’s CEO for his congressional hearing earlier this month, according to a new report. In addition to Mucha, TikTok tapped former Obama advisers David Plouffe and Jim Messina to prep Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, for more than a month before Chew’s March 23 appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee — which observers said only reinforced anti-TikTok attitudes among both Republican and Democratic lawmakers concerned about the app’s Chinese ownership by parent company ByteDance. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mucha could not be reached for comment.

EXCLUSIVE: Joseph Baena and Ludovica Frasca have joined the cast of Josh Webber’s family holiday film Athena Saves Christmas, which is currently shooting in California’s Lake Arrowhead area for a late 2023 release.

co-hosted a D23-themed podcast, “D23 Inside Disney,” along with Oh My Disney’s Sheri Henry. News of the ouster came from six separate sources with knowledge of the situation.

Disney has eliminated a small business unit focused on exploring the metaverse, part of its initial efforts to reduce its workforce by about 7,000 employees.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor As part of a companywide cost-cutting effort, Disney has axed its cross-divisional Next Generation Storytelling & Consumer Experiences group, which encompassed the Mouse House’s metaverse ambitions. The elimination of Disney’s Next Generation Storytelling & Consumer Experiences group, led by company veteran Mike White, affects about 50 employees, Variety confirmed. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. A Disney rep declined to comment. The shutdown of Disney’s metaverse group came Monday with the first wave of the company’s move to slash 7,000 jobs under interim CEO Bob Iger, which is part of its attempt to reduce $5.5 billion in costs. Following this week’s layoffs, there will be a larger second round of cuts next month, Iger told employees in a memo Monday. A final round of layoffs will hit “before the beginning of summer,” according to Iger.

EXCLUSIVE: More changes at Paramount+: Tanya Giles, the streaming platform’s chief programming officer, is leaving after a combined 28 years at Paramount Global and its various iterations. A rep for Paramount+ confirmed Giles’ departure to Deadline, declining further comment. There is no immediate replacement, and Giles’ decision to step down is not part of a restructuring, sources said.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Tanya Giles is stepping down as chief programming officer for streaming at Paramount Global. Giles was promoted in June 2021 to help oversee all streaming content programming efforts for the media conglomerate that has invested heavily in its Paramount+ streaming platform. News of Giles’ departure was first reported by Deadline. The move comes as Paramount Global has been taking steps to further streamline its content, production and network operations under an increasingly smaller number of leaders. In late January, the company unveiled the plan to consolidate its stalwart pay TV cabler Showtime with the Paramount+ platform.