Margaret Loesch

Summary

Margaret Ann Loesch (/lɛʃ/[1]) is an American television executive and producer. She is the former President and CEO of Discovery Communications and Hasbro Inc's joint venture television network Hub Network.[2] She stepped down from her position in 2014.[3]

Margaret Loesch
Born
Margaret Ann Loesch
Alma materUniversity of Southern Mississippi
Louisiana State University in New Orleans
OccupationEntertainment executive
Known forKartoon Channel

Early life edit

Margaret Ann Loesch was born to Margaret M. Loesch and Brig. Gen. L. Fred Loesch (USAF). She attended undergraduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi, studying political science, and graduate school at Louisiana State University in New Orleans.[4]

Career edit

In 1971, Loesch started her entertainment career with television programming and production positions at ABC, then in 1979 with NBC. In 1979 she moved to Hanna-Barbera Productions as vice president for children's programming, moving up to executive vice president. In 1984, she joined Marvel Productions as president and chief executive officer.[5] Loesch also ran Fox Kids from 1990[4][2] until 1997.[5] During this time she bought the X-Men TV series[6] and the Power Rangers franchise[7] (both would prove to be wildly popular) for the network.[6] For most of 1998, Loesch was President of the Jim Henson Television Group, where she was involved in the Odyssey Channel agreement with Hallmark Entertainment and National Interfaith Cable Coalition. She moved to Odyssey in November 1998 as president and chief executive officer. With Hallmark taking over a majority ownership in Odyssey, Loesch led a re-branding of Odyssey to the Hallmark Channel in 1999.[5] In 2003, Loesch and Bruce Stein formed The Hatchery, a family entertainment and consumer product company.[8] She was hired as Hub Network CEO position in July 2009 until the end of 2014.[2] In March 2015, Loesch was named to Genius Brands' international board of directors to replace Jeff Weiss, the president and COO of American Greetings.[9]

References edit

  1. ^ Interview with X-Men: TAS Showrunner/Writers Eric Lewald and Julia Lewald
  2. ^ a b c "Kids vet Margaret Loesch to run Hasbro-Discovery cable network". Los Angeles Times. July 16, 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  3. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (June 12, 2014). "Margaret Loesch to Exit as Hub Network Chief". Variety. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  4. ^ a b "Margaret Loesch Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Yahoo!. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "Margaret Loesch To Leave Position As President And CEO, Crown Media United States; Lana Corbi To Assume Post". Business Wire. the Free Library.com. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  6. ^ a b Mangels, Andy (August 1993). "Scorching the Screen". Wizard: X-Men Turn Thirty. pp. 70–73.
  7. ^ Heffley, Lynne (November 1993). "Low-Tech Equals High Ratings". Los Angeles Times: Fox's Offbeat 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' Flexes Its Kidvid Muscle. pp. 1–2.
  8. ^ Hofmeister, Sallie (November 12, 2003). "Former TV, Toy Execs Form New Company". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
  9. ^ Bond, Paul (March 26, 2015). "Margaret Loesch Joins Genius Brands Board of Directors". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 13, 2016.

External links edit