Executive chosen to lead Hasbro joint venture
11:37 AM Thu, Jul 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Children's entertainment veteran Margaret Loesch has been named president and chief executive officer of the new joint venture between Hasbro Inc. (HAS:NYSE) and Discovery Communications (DISCA:Nasdaq). In May, Pawtucket-based Hasbro moved deeper into the entertainment business, joining with cable-TV's Discovery to create a TV network with programming based on Hasbro's toys and games. Hasbro has already reaped rewards from video entertainment, having pulled in nearly a billion dollars from the blockbuster Transformers movie and sales of related products. The Transformers sequel has already grossed over $339 million at the box office this summer, and a movie based on its iconic G.I. Joe toy line opens Aug. 7. The company created Cake Mix Studios, a video-production studio it built deep inside one of the two buildings on Newport Avenue that make up its headquarters. In the new joint venture, Hasbro has a 50-percent stake, worth $300 million, in a plan to reformat the 13-year-old Discovery Kids channel, putting programs based on G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and other toy lines onto the channel, which is expected to get a new name. Loesch's resume includes the development and production of children's television programs such as "Smurfs," "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers," "Jim Henson's Muppet Babies," "Animaniacs," "Transformers" and the award-winning pre-school educational series "Bear in the Big Blue House." She also serves on the board of trustees of Sesame Workshop, producers of educational children's programs, including "Sesame Street." She also served as executive vice president of Hanna-Barbera Productions, president and chief executive of Marvel Productions, president of Television/Worldwide of the Jim Henson Group, and was the first president and chief executive of Fox Kids Network. The cable network will continue to operate as Discovery Kids until the new programming slate is unveiled in the fall of 2010. 
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