Participant Media Names Craig Parks SVP of Digital and Live Programming For New Cable Network

LOS ANGELES (February 19, 2013)—Participant Media has named Craig Parks as Senior Vice President, Digital & Live Programming for the company’s yet-to-be-named cable television network targeting millennials. Parks will spearhead the creation of digital and interstitial content and live-multi-platform programming for Participant’s new cable network, as well as video content for TakePart.com and branded content for sponsors and partners. He will also be responsible for the day-to-day oversight of Participant’s YouTube channel, TakePart TV. Parks will be based in Los Angeles and report to Evan Shapiro, President, Participant Television.

Launching in Summer 2013, the new cable network will offer a thought-provoking and entertaining mix of original and acquired content. The network’s diverse programming slate will include live cross-platform news and events as well as script and unscripted series being developed with award-winning talent and will be home to the world television premieres of Participant Media’s award-winning documentaries and films.

Shapiro said: “Craig has a unique talent for creating quality content that travels across platforms and caters perfectly to the media consumption of digital natives. He is a key player in our strategy to adapt TV for the lifestyle of the next generation audiences.”

Parks joins the company from IFC where as Senior Vice President, Digital Media & Alternative Content, he led the charge in building the network’s online presence and growing fan base around its roster of original comedy series. Parks was responsble for IFC.com, the network’s social media outreach, and the availability of content on alternative platforms, including Hulu and Amazon, and mobile application–efforts which directly contributed to IFC’s business and revenue growth. As a result of a partnership he forged with Facebook and the introduction of IFC Sync, the second season of the network’s Emmy® Award-winning series Portlandia became a social media phenomenon. Under Parks’ direction, IFC.com served as a conduit to connect the influential IFC community to popular social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and foursquare.

Parks added, “I am excited join the Participant team and look forward to building on the company’s legacy of inspiring social change, especially among the millennials who are the most plugged-in generation ever. Digital initiatives have the power to seamlessly translate the inspired viewer into an active agent of change. That’s something I can wholeheartedly get behind.”

Prior to joining IFC in 2007, Parks served for three years as executive producer and creative director of special projects in the On-Air and Promotions department of AMC Networks, the parent company of IFC. In this role, he serviced AMC Networks corporate and many of its businesses, including IFC and WE tv. Previous to that he was an executive producer for ABC Family, overseeing the creation and execution of integrated marketing and co-branded content for ABC Family’s marketing and on-air promotions departments. Earlier in his career, Parks held positions at MTV and VH1. Parks is a graduate of University of Florida and University of Texas. He is also an alumnus of CTAM’s executive management program, CTAM U, at Harvard Business School.

About Participant Media
Participant Media is an entertainment company that focuses on documentary and non-documentary feature films, television, publishing and digital content about the real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates social action and advocacy programs to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant’s online division and Social Action Network is TakePart. Founded by Jeff Skoll in 2004, Jim Berk serves as CEO. Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Visitor, Food, Inc., The Cove, The Crazies, Countdown to Zero, Waiting for “Superman,” Fair Game, PAGE ONE: Inside The New York Times, The Help, Contagion, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Middle of Nowhere, Lincoln, Promised Land, No and Snitch.