ABC appoints first black woman as president of network
Channing Dungey has been announced as the new president of the ABC Entertainment Group, replacing former president Paul Lee, making her the first African-American woman to be president of a broadcast network...
Channing Dungey has been announced as the new president of the ABC Entertainment Group, replacing former president Paul Lee. Dungey’s promotion will make her the first African-American person to be president of a major broadcast network.
The announcement comes on the heels of Ben Sherwood’s promotion to President of Disney/ABC TV Group, amid rumors that Sherwood and Lee were reportedly often at odds with each other, The Hollywood Reporter states.
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Lee’s removal comes as the network is experiencing ratings problems, despite the success of last season’s debuts of How to Get Away with Murder and Black-ish. The network’s projects have failed to excite with their ratings, with The Muppets turning out to be a huge critical and commercial flop while Agent Carter continues to languish in its ratings. Aside from Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and Murder, the network’s shows are struggling, and ABC has fallen behind Fox to last place in the ratings of the Big Four networks.
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Dungey certainly has her work cut out for her, considering part of the reason for the lack of higher ratings is the complete lack of sports on ABC as compared to the other Big Four networks, but it will be interesting to see how Dungey’s tenure will seek to improve the future of the network.
