Geographic Maps Out Changes at the Top

Outgoing National Geographic Channel President Laureen Ong with Steve Schiffman, who's been named acting general manager. (2004 Photo By Olivier Douliery For The Washington Post)

One week after unveiling her upcoming programming plans in New York, National Geographic Channel's founding president Laureen Ong was on the phone with reporters to announce that she's leaving the network to become chief operating officer of News Corp.'s Star, leading to a structural change in Nat Geo's exec ranks.

It will take two men to replace Ong, who, before launching Nat Geo a little more than six years ago, was the general manager of Fox-owned WTTG in Washington.

National Geographic Channel is two-thirds owned by News Corp.'s Fox Cable Networks and one-third by Washington-based National Geographic Ventures.

David Haslingden, CEO of National Geographic Channels International and Fox International Channels, has added a newly created position, CEO of National Geographic Channel U.S., to his résumé.

Haslingden, who joined NGCI as CEO at the end of '99, is already responsible for the NGCI networks in Europe, Asia, India, Australia, the Middle East, Canada, Latin America and Africa. Before NGCI, Haslingden served as exec vice president of Star, News Corp.'s Asian media operation, which broadcasts more than 60 television services in nine languages to more than 300 million viewers across 53 Asian countries.

Steve Schiffman, who's been in charge of Nat Geo's U.S. marketing, digital media, branding, communications, business development and research for nearly five years, has been named the channel's acting general manager, reporting to Haslingden.

In yesterday's announcement the company said the fact that Haslingden oversees the international Nat Geo networks as well as the domestic one will "facilitate" the U.S. network's collaboration with the worldwide operation, though the company was quick to note the international and domestic networks will "continue to operate as distinct entities with different ownership structures."

Loosely translated, that means you'll still see a lot of "U.S.-centric" programming on the channel's lineup, Ong said (think "Dog Whisperer"), but expect more "big events" such as "Galapagos" "now that we can put our forces together."

During the phone news conference Ong said that 75 percent of the network's programming for next year has already been "put to bed."

The three-hour "Galapagos" debuted in prime time on Sunday, March 18, and clocked 1.1 million viewers -- the sixth-biggest crowd in the network's history.

In 2006, Nat Geo was ranked No. 39 in prime time among all ad-based cable networks, with an average audience of 313,000 viewers. Archrival Discovery was ranked 13th, with a prime-time average of 1.13 million viewers. Nat Geo was then available in about 60 million homes, compared to Discovery's 92 million.

The change in executive structure at Nat Geo followed her decision to take the new job, Ong said.

"My leaving really precipitated thinking about what we can do now," she told The TV Column. "It seemed like we were headed toward that direction anyway -- making this a global business. It seemed like this was the natural next step to go, and I allowed this to happen."