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Erin McIlvain has been named senior vice president of affiliate distribution and marketing, reporting to Dana Zimmer, president and chief distribution and strategy officer for Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and Dennis Miller, president of The CW Network. In this new role, McIlvain will be responsible for managing The CW’s distribution and overseeing relationships with the network’s affiliates.
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Throughout her nearly 20-year career, McIlvain has held leadership positions in distribution, marketing and affiliate relations for such media companies as Dish Network, Charter Communications, and Crown Media Holdings, Inc.
She joins Nexstar’s The CW from Great American Media, where she served as chief officer, distribution and content strategy. She was one of the company’s founding members and while there was responsible for overseeing distribution, government relations, marketing and operations. In less than two years, she and her team grew GAM’s distribution from 31 million television households to more than 50 million, making it one of the U.S.’ fastest-growing cable networks. She also launched the company’s first direct-to-consumer offering and its first FAST channel.
“Erin is a strategic thinker with tremendous experience in the multi-channel distribution business and affiliate relations,” said Zimmer in a statement. “She has a keen understanding of the linear broadcast, cable, digital, and streaming world, and has a great reputation with our clients. We are excited to have someone of Erin’s caliber join our team and I look forward to working together to raise the bar on CW affiliate matters.”
Prior to her time with GAM, McIlvain served as executive vice president for distribution and content strategy for Crown Media Holdings, Inc., where she led the team responsible for distribution, including finance, operations, government relations and affiliate marketing for the Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama. She spearheaded the launch of Hallmark Drama as a zero-subscriber channel and grew its distribution to more than 40 million television households.
“Erin is extremely familiar with our network partners, having worked with all of them throughout her career,” said Miller, also in a statement. “As we continue evolving The CW’s programming strategy—adding more live sports and broad-based entertainment offerings—she is the perfect choice to lead our distribution efforts.”
“The CW Network and Nexstar’s portfolio of media assets make for an unbeatable combination, and I’m excited to be joining a network that is incredibly innovative in its approach to programming and determined to forge collaborative relationships with its affiliate partners. There are a lot of opportunities to continue expanding The CW’s reach and I am eager to get started,” McIlvain said.
McIlvain graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned her law degree from the University of Denver College of Law.