Channing Dungey Confirmed As Chairman Of Warner Bros. Television Group, Will Succeed Peter Roth

Peter White
·4 min read

It’s official. Channing Dungey has been named Chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group.

Dungey succeeds Peter Roth, who revealed on Friday that he was leaving the studio after 22 years.

The move comes ten days after Deadline revealed Dungey had stepped down as VP Original Content and head of drama at Netflix after 20 months at the streamer to pursue another opportunity.

It also follows the surprise departure of WBTV President Susan Rovner, who was widely considered Roth’s heir apparent, to become Chairman, Entertainment Content for NBCUniversal’s TV & streaming unit.

Dungey, who will join the studio in early 2021, will report to Ann Sarnoff, Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group.

She will oversee Warner Bros. Television Group, which is now part of WarnerMedia’s Studios and Networks Group, the division that also includes the WB Pictures Group, HBO and HBO Max, DC, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Wizarding World and consumer products, experiences and gaming units.

Brett Paul, who is President of Warner Bros. Television, and worked closely with Rovner, will report to Dungey.

It is the latest move in a series of executive musical chairs over the last few months that included the departure of the exit last month of Netflix’s head of content Cindy Holland, whom Dungey previously reported to at the streamer, and the appointment of Bela Bajaria as Global Head of TV.

During her nearly two years at Netflix, Dungey oversaw a large portion of the digital platform’s drama slate including Octavia Spencer’s Self Made: Inspired By The Life of Madam CJ Walker, Hilary Swank’s Away, and two upcoming series from Shonda Rhimes: romantic period drama Bridgerton, and a drama inspired by the life of conwoman Anna Delvey. She was also involved in the acquisition of Darren Starr’s series Emily In Paris, which recently launched.

She was also responsible for helping to bring Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to Netflix, championing overall deals for talent including Regina King, Mara Brock Akil, Bill Prady, Michael Green, and Gina Rodriguez and working with high-profile showrunners and talent including Shonda Rhimes, Jenji Kohan, Kenya Barris, Steven DeKnight, Marti Noxon, as well as Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.

Prior to Netflix, Dungey was President of ABC Entertainment, becoming the first Black executive to run one of the Big Four networks’ entertainment divisions. There, she shepherded series including The Good Doctor and the return of American Idol and was responsible for cancelling its top series, Roseanne, following star Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet.

Previously, she ran ABC’s drama development, overseeing the development of such shows as Shondaland’s Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, and Once Upon a Time.

Dungey joined the network’s drama development department in June 2009. Prior to that, she oversaw drama programming for ABC Studios, where her slate included Shondaland’s Private Practice for ABC and CBS’ long-running drama Criminal Minds, among others.

Her career in entertainment has spanned both television and film. She partnered with Pamela Post and formed Dexterity Pictures, a production partnership focused on making both studio and independent films, as well as developing TV series. She also served as president of Material, a film production company with a first-look deal at Warner Bros. Prior to that, she served for five years as a Warner Bros production executive, helping to develop and supervise a diverse range of commercially successful, critically acclaimed films.

“This is a homecoming of sorts for Channing, who was a production executive at Warner Bros. early in her career, and we’re excited to have her rejoin the Studio,” said Sarnoff. “Channing is one of the most talented, visionary, creative and respected executives working in television today. She has impeccable taste, a breadth of experience covering all platforms and genres, incredible relationships across the creative community and a keen sense of what’s next and how best to get it to audiences. She’s a great choice to lead the Television Group as it continues to grow its production operations for HBO Max, while also maintaining its standing as the industry’s leading independent supplier of programming to all outlets.”

“The Warner Bros. Television Group is the recognized industry leader in content creation and a true destination for talent based on its ability to produce across all genres and for all outlets,” said Dungey. “I’m thrilled to be joining the company at such a pivotal time in its history and look forward to working with my new colleagues at Warner Bros. and across the Studios and Networks Group to build on the incredible work of my predecessor, Peter Roth. This is such an electric time in our industry, and we have so much opportunity available to us between Warner Bros.’ core businesses and HBO Max, I cannot wait to dive in.”

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