Fox Vet Steve MacDonald to Head A+E Global Content Licensing & International (EXCLUSIVE)

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A+E Networks has named Fox veteran Steve MacDonald president of its global content licensing and international division, Variety has learned. There, he will oversee the company’s multi-platform and library content licensing initiatives and international activities.

MacDonald is a highly accomplished sales executive who has been a major force behind many of the most innovative and revenue-rich media content transactions in the entertainment industry, said A+E Networks Groups president Paul Buccieri, to whom MacDonald will report. His innate talent for unearthing revenue potential within media assets is the precise skill we require as we continue to evolve our company.

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MacDonald was most recently at Twentieth Television, where he spent 24 years, ultimately rising to the position of executive vice president, general sales manager of basic cable, with oversight of broadcast syndication. During his time there, he steered Twentieth’s revenue growth strategy, driving content licensing sales for domestic off-net syndication of sitcoms, dramas, reality shows, original programs and library content. He also oversaw premiere feature film and library window sales.

At Twentieth, the seasoned exec closed a number of key content and licensing deals, leading the team that worked to free up rights and reverse broadcast syndication exclusivity in order to sell the basic cable rights for “The Simpsons,” negotiating with USA Networks to acquire the rights to “Modern Family,” one of the company’s largest acquisitions, and “mastermind[ing] a deal to reviveFamily Guy by working cross-divisionally to sell the series to TBS/Adult Swim while simultaneously releasing the show on DVD,” according to the company.

Recently appointed group managing director of international Patrick Vien and executive VP of content licensing and business development Mark Garner will both report to MacDonald.

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