Ashley Hovey: Last News

The CW Network has named Ashley Hovey chief digital officer, a newly created position, starting April l7 reporting to President Dennis Miller.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The CW network has tapped Roku exec Ashley Hovey as the broadcaster’s first-ever chief digital officer. Per the the Nexstar-owned CW, in this new role, Hovey will be responsible for overseeing the business strategy and day-to-day operations of the network’s digital operations and OTT streaming platforms, including the CW App. An AVOD platform, the CW App has over 92 million downloads to date and serves as home of new episodes and seasons of the CW’s primetime programs, live streaming of its sports content and on-demand library. Hovey, who most recently served as senior director of the ad-supported business for The Roku Channel (TRC), including both on-demand and FAST channel content, will begin her duties at the CW April 17. She will report to Dennis Miller, president of the CW.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorRoku is thinking local: In the streaming platform’s first local news programming pact, Roku is adding eight NBC local news channels to the Roku Channel — available to stream live for free.Through the partnership, NBCUniversal Local will bring local news channels from its owned-and-operated NBC stations in eight major U.S. markets — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., and South Florida — to the Roku Channel.

Roku has teamed with NBCUniversal to offer eight local NBC stations as free offerings on its popular Roku Channel.

Roku is launching Espacio Latino, a free streaming hub for Hispanic programming, on the Roku Channel.

William Earl Variety will host a panel on Curation and Convenience – How to Program for the New Era of Connected TV in the Variety Streaming Room presented by Vevo on April 7 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m.