Advanced Television

Root out at Disco

November 30, 2007

Discovery and Science Channel president and general manager Jane Root is out at the company, Discovery Communications president and CEO David Zaslav confirmed.

She is being let her out of her contract effective immediately to return to her native United Kingdom, and Discovery veteran John Ford — who rejoined the company in September after years away at competitor National Geographic Channel — will assume the head slot at Discovery Channel. The company is recruiting a new chief for Science.

Root who had been controller of the United Kingdom’s BBC2, was hired by the previous Discovery regime under former chief Billy Campbell. Zaslav said bringing in Ford, whose career he said he has followed for years, has been a priority since he joined the company in January 2007.

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