Hollywood Tonight presents Rick Holzman Senior Vice President of Programming Animal Planet Media biography!

Rick Holzman
Senior Vice President of Programming
Animal Planet Media

   Rick Holzman was named senior vice president of programming for Animal Planet Media
in November, 2007. In this role, he is charged with strategically guiding Animal Planet
programming, scheduling and acquisition activity. He will work with company executives
to guide and bring to life Animal Planet‘s overall programming vision while also working
with advertising sales, programming and development to meet client needs.

   Holzman is an established, senior-level television and new media programming executive
with 15 years of experience at top-tier cable networks including, Discovery Channel, MTV,
VH1, USA, SciFi and The Universal Television Group.

   Holzman began his media career in 1987, at Leo Burnett Co., where he sharpened his analytical and negotiating skills while overseeing a multi-million dollar media portfolio for Proctor and Gamble's Pert Plus shampoo. Holzman then moved on to pursue his love of music, television programming and youth culture at MTV Networks. During a successful ten year career at MTV Networks, Holzman served in a variety of capacities and senior management roles.

   During his early days at MTV Networks, Holzman designed and conducted music, programming development, lifestyle and branding research for MTV and VH1, helping the networks to move beyond —music video“ programming and into full-blown lifestyle television networks. He was promoted to head VH1's first Research and Planning group. During his tenure, saw an improved understanding of its audience which led to the network‘s highest ratings in its history and laid the groundwork for VH1‘s successful repositioning.

   In 1995, Rick returned to sister-channel MTV where he became the senior programming and marketing executive for MTV‘s newly minted Interactive and Online unit. Holzman eventually went on to oversee MTV‘s Online Division, guiding MTV.com‘s programming, marketing and business initiatives. Under his guidance, MTV developed a series of TV/Online convergence programming initiatives that made television history by creating a participatory viewing experience for the MTV television audience.

   Holzman‘s high-profile in the youth, pop-culture and interactive industries were noticed by hip-hop mogul and Phat Farm founder Russell Simmons, who was preparing to launch 360hiphop.com. In spring 2000, Simmons brought Holzman on board to be chief operating officer, overseeing all aspects of the business including developing relevant cross-platform youth-culture programming and marketing initiatives, which transcended online and crossed into mainstream media. From 2001-2004, Holzman returned to the world of cable television, serving first at USA Network, where he led the network‘s first-ever dedicated Programming/Marketing research team. His audience research expertise helped steer the channel to its highest ratings in recent history and helped to develop, schedule and launch two of the most successful original series in the history of cable television: —Monk“ and —Dead Zone.“ In 2002, Holzman was elevated to senior vice president of the Universal Television Group‘s Strategic Research division.

   In the fall of 2004, Holzman returned to his passion for programming as vice president, program planning and scheduling for the Discovery Channel where he set many new ratings records for the network, including two of its most successful primetime specials ever, —The Flight that Fought Back,“ and —Supervolcano.“ Under his guidance, Discovery also launched a new Tuesday night slate of programs which included two of the most successful series premiere in Discovery‘s history, —Deadliest Catch“ and hit franchise —Dirty Jobs.“ Holzman also commissioned several new series, including —Future Weapons,“ —Stunt Junkies“ and Discovery‘s first game show, —Cash Cab.“ He then moved on to Discovery‘s parent company, Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI), where he worked across all of DCI‘s networks as vice president, programming strategy and forecasting for its national advertising sales research division.