A&E’s Dubuc promotes four, hires one in management shuffle

Nancy Dubuc is ramping up A&E Networks’ programming and original content divisions.

Recently promoted to chief executive, Dubuc is now making some personnel changes of her own at the company, parent of cable networks History, Lifetime and A&E.

A&E, jointly owned by Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp., announced four promotions and one hiring Monday.

Robert DeBitetto, previously president and general manager of the A&E and Bio channels, was named president of brand strategy and business development at A&E Studios.

The company also promoted three executives to the position of executive vice president to manage the History, H2, A&E and Lifetime networks.

Dirk Hoogstra will run History and H2, David McKillop will manage A&E, and Robert Sharenow will oversee Lifetime.

“I have had the honor to work with Bob, David, Rob and Dirk for a many years, and am thrilled that we are continuing this journey together,” Dubuc said in a statement.

Former BBC executive Jana Bennett will join the company as president of Bio and Lifetime Movie Network to oversee development, strategies, marketing and brand development.

“She is an experienced industry veteran who knows how to build and grow brands and create long-running franchises,” Dubuc said.

This comes after Dubuc’s own meteoric rise through the company. Before her promotion to CEO in April, she oversaw huge ratings growth for History and A&E with reality shows such as “Pawn Stars” and “Duck Dynasty.”

Although some have criticized the History and A&E channels’ shifts to reality shows from their original missions, the networks are delivering strong ratings and revenue.

Dubuc succeeded Abbe Raven, who had been chief executive of A&E Networks since 2005.

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