Herb Scannell
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Herb Scannell (born January 11, 1957) is an American media executive and businessman. He served as the president of
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
and
TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...
from 1996 to 2006, was the founding CEO of Next New Networks, and the president of BBC Worldwide America. He served as the CEO of the Mitú Network until the Summer 2018. He became the president and chief executive officer of KPCC-FM in January 2019.


Early life and education

Scannell was born on Long Island in New York to an
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father from Boston and Puerto Rican mother as the youngest of four. He received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. His mother taught him
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at home helping him to become fluent in both English and Spanish. As a child he would spend every summer with his Puerto Rican family on the island becoming very attached to his
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
roots. Scannell graduated from high school in 1975 and entered Boston College. As a student he became the manager of WZBC (the campus' radio station). He graduated in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in English.


Career

Scannell was hired by WHN Radio (New York) in 1980, before joining the cable television revolution in 1981 at The Movie Channel before it merged with Showtime, and eventually worked his way up to the position of director of program promotion for Showtime/The Movie Channel. In March 1988, Scannell joined Nickelodeon as director of programming, overseeing program scheduling. In
1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
, he was named vice president for Nickelodeon. He oversaw the development and launch of '' Nick News''. In
1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...
, he served as executive vice president for Nickelodeon Network and U.S. Television. He oversaw the direction of Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite
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networks. He was also fundamental in the development of
Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...
and
Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...
.


President of Nickelodeon

In February 1996, he was named president of Nickelodeon and
TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...
, succeeding
Geraldine Laybourne Geraldine Laybourne (''née'' Bond; born May 19, 1947) is an American entrepreneur and former TV executive. She worked at Nickelodeon from 1980 until 1996, when she became the president of Disney-ABC Cable Networks (including Disney Channel). She ...
. Under his leadership, Nickelodeon (which, under his watch, included such animated series as ''
SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...
'', '' Danny Phantom'', ''
The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant him ...
'', ''
Avatar: The Last Airbender ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' (abbreviated as ''ATLA''), also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Aang'' in some regions or simply ''Avatar'', is an American anime-influenced animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and ...
'', ''
The Wild Thornberrys ''The Wild Thornberrys'' is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman, and Stephen Sustarsic for Nickelodeon. The series portrays an American family of wildlife documentary ...
'', ''
The Angry Beavers ''The Angry Beavers'' is an American animated television series created by Mitch Schauer for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around Norbert and Daggett Beaver, two young beaver brothers who have moved out of their parents' home to become bache ...
'', '' Catscratch'' and ''
Hey Arnold! ''Hey Arnold!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Craig Bartlett. It originally aired on Nickelodeon from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandpar ...
'') and TV Land became the highest-rated cable networks launched within the past seven years. Nickelodeon also expanded to other areas such as live theatrical shows, magazines and feature films. He was also responsible for launching ''
Dora the Explorer ''Dora the Explorer'' is an American children's animated television series and multimedia franchise created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner that premiered on Nickelodeon on August 14, 2000, went on hiatus on June 5, 20 ...
'', ''
The Brothers García ''The Brothers García'' is an American teen sitcom created by Jeff Valdez, Mike Cevallos, and Gibby Cevallos. It was among the first projects of Sí TV, an effort to produce programming featuring Latino characters that are aimed at a diverse a ...
'' (which is based on ''Los García'', a show he used to watch in Puerto Rico) and '' Taina''.


Later years

On August 22, 2005, he participated in "The State of Hispanic America National Conference" as a member of the Executive Roundtable. Herb Scannell currently lives in
Manhattan, New York Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
with his wife and two daughters. In January 2007, Scannell became the founding CEO of Next New Networks, a new media company of micro-television networks distributed through internet technology that helped establish the concept of the
multi-channel network A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to a channel owner in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizat ...
; the company had 2010's #1 and #2
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videos in the world. Co-founders include Emil Rensing,
Fred Seibert Frederick (Fred) Seibert (born September 15, 1951) is an American television producer, co-founder of MTV and the CEO of FredFilms, an animation production company based in Burbank, California. His official biography states he has led five (working ...
, Timothy Shey, and Jed Simmons. The company's lead partner was
Spark Capital Spark Capital is a venture capital firm in the United States, responsible for early-stage funding startups of consumer, commerce, FinTech, software, frontier, and media sectors. It has branches in San Francisco, Boston, and New York City. Hi ...
. The company's first group of networks include VOD Cars, Fast Lane Daily, and Channel Frederator. In June 2010, Scannell became the president of BBC Worldwide America.


Awards and recognitions

Among the many awards and recognitions which he received are: * CTAM Awards * BPME Awards * NAMIC Vision and Image Award (2001) * Profile in Latino Leaders Magazine (2004) * Amnesty International Award (2004)


See also

* List of Puerto Ricans


References


External links

*
Latino Leaders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scannell, Herb 1957 births Boston College alumni Living people People from Long Island Nickelodeon executives American television executives American people of Puerto Rican descent American people of Irish descent BBC executives 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople