George Cheeks Paramount 1
George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS and Head of Content, News and Sports at Paramount+, addressed the company’s staff in a memo to announced that CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios will be supporting Darío Turovelzky, SVP and General Manager of Paramount’s Hub LatAm South, and Maria Kyriacou, President, ViacomCBS Networks International Australia, Israel and the United Kingdom, to find ways to achieve a greater globalization of open TV content.
He also reported that both studios will centralize several of their backend functions such as finance, legal, production, business affairs, and casting. Cheeks, as reported by Deadline, wrote that the two brands will have their own creative teams, giving the company a balance “bolstered by streamlined support operations.”
In terms of production, Kevin Berg will head CBS Studios and Liz Miller will oversee production at PTVS; Erika Kirkwood will manage business affairs for PTVS with Allison Brightman leading CBS Studios; Deborah Aquila will lead the casting for PTVS content, and Meg Liberman, CBS Studios programs.
In finance, Eric Gray will be the CFO for both studios and will continue to report to Bryon Rubin, CBS Director of Operations and Finance; Kim Doneche will oversee affairs for both studios and will continue to report to Christa D’Alimonte, Executive VP and General Counsel, Paramount Global.
“In each of these centralized areas, most of the team members under the supervision of these heads of department will begin supporting and working CBS and PTVS projects, either immediately or over time. This is a new way of operating for many of us and it will require healthy collaboration between leaders and teams,” Cheeks remarked.
He added that he wants the studios to take full advantage of Paramount Global’s ecosystem through broadcast TV, pay TV and streaming, but also continue to sell to third-party platforms.
