Television
March 4, 2008
Charlotte Koppe Promoted To Newly Created Position Of Vice President, Station Relations, At Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
(March 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – Television marketing, promotion and programming executive Charlotte Koppe has been promoted to Vice President, Station Relations, at Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (WBDTD), it was announced today by Rick Meril, Executive Vice President & General Sales Manager, WBDTD, and Susan Kantor, Senior Vice President, Marketing, for both WBDTD and Telepictures Productions. Koppe will report to both Meril and Kantor.
In her newly created position, Koppe will manage the day-to-day operations of WBDTD’s local-station marketing, communication and station relations activities with respect to all first-run series, off-network series and motion picture packages the Studio has sold to local broadcasters. She will work closely with Meril to develop and implement on-going sales strategies to enhance the performance of Warner Bros. programs once they are scheduled on local stations around the country and will help coordinate all of WBDTD’s business-to-station communication. Additionally, she will supervise the activities of WBDTD’s clearance department, which tracks stations, time periods and barter information for all of the division’s first-run and off-network series, as well as theatrical motion pictures under current license.
“Charlotte has the ability to see all sides of the distributor-station relationship, and she is able to counsel our station partners on all aspects of sales, programming, scheduling and marketing for television,” said Meril. “She has done an outstanding job for us on both ‘The Tyra Banks Show’ and ‘TMZ,’ and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to create a position on our team that speaks directly to her strengths and expertise.”
Koppe will work closely with Kantor on station marketing, station relations and scheduling, collaborating with individual broadcasters to execute effective marketing strategies for the Studio’s series on a local level. She will oversee the staff of affiliate marketing representatives for each of WBDTD’s first-run syndicated programs – including the forthcoming “The Bonnie Hunt Show” (currently cleared in over 95% of the country for a fall 2008 launch), “TMZ” (the number one new first-run strip for the 2007-2008 season), “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “The Tyra Banks Show,” “Extra,” “Judge Mathis” and “The People’s Court” – as well as off-network.
“Working closely with our stations to increase awareness of and ratings for our programming is our key goal, and we put the highest priority on customer service and effective communication with our station partners,” said Kantor. “Charlotte’s experience working on the local-station level – along with her years of work on the broadcast network and program distributor sides – gives her the big-picture knowledge necessary to help us succeed in this larger role.”
Immediately prior to her promotion, Koppe served as Director, Affiliate Marketing, for WBDTD since 2004, overseeing the launch and first three seasons of “The Tyra Banks Show.” She recently supervised the local-station marketing efforts surrounding the show’s move from Los Angeles to New York City for its third season. She also worked closely with “TMZ” affiliates in creating local marketing initiatives to support the fall 2007 launch of that series.
Before joining WBDTD, Koppe ran her own independent production company – CJK Productions – consulting and developing program ideas and segments for syndicators. From 1996–1998, she was Senior Vice President, Programming & Development, at New World Entertainment, where she oversaw the launch of “Access Hollywood.” From 1993–1995, Koppe was Vice President, Daytime, at ABC Entertainment, overseeing the production of the long-running hit serial “General Hospital,” and from 1989–1992, she was Vice President, Programming, at Paramount Domestic Television, supervising the domestic launch of the news magazine “Hard Copy.”
Koppe also did stints in programming and promotion for WLS-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated station in Chicago, and Cox Broadcasting’s WSB-TV, the ABC affiliate in Atlanta. # # #