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SHOWTIME NETWORKS NAMES NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Veteran corporate finance executive Adam Townsend to depart SHOWTIME NETWORKS

Michael Crotty Named New Chief Financial Officer


LOS ANGELES – March 10, 2020 – Veteran corporate finance executive Adam Townsend will be departing Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI) at the end of the month after 12 years of combined service across Showtime Networks and CBS. Since joining SNI, Townsend has been instrumental in developing a broader financial strategy and guiding the network’s growth in streaming. He has also played a key role in the integration of Showtime Networks within ViacomCBS, setting the network up for future success. He will transition the role to Michael Crotty, who has been named SNI’s new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Crotty will also have oversight of BET Networks’ finance team. The announcement was made today by David Nevins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Showtime Networks Inc. to whom Crotty will report.

As Chief Financial Officer, Crotty will be responsible for all financial matters relating to Showtime Networks’ and BET Networks’ businesses, including oversight of finance, strategy and information systems for the network’s divisions, which encompasses budgeting, planning, forecasting and accounting of all the business segments within SNI and BET.

"Adam has been invaluable to Showtime Networks and CBS, not only with managing our finances but also our overall leadership,” said Nevins. “He’s been an enormous help in driving our business through a year of many transitions, and we are sorry to lose him. We wish him all the best on what we expect will be an exciting next chapter. We count ourselves incredibly fortunate to be able to lure Michael back to SHOWTIME. He is extremely well liked and respected by everyone he worked with during his previous stint here, and the years he spent as CFO of The Players' Tribune have given him indispensable entrepreneurial and leadership experience that he brings back to us."

"It has been an honor and a privilege to have held the various positions I have in this Corporation over the past 12 years,” said Townsend. “From the first retrans deals to the proliferation of streaming, I have been fortunate to have had a seat on the front lines of the media industry's dramatic transformation. And at Showtime, the finance integration within ViacomCBS is well underway, and I am confident the Company is now on a path toward its own transformation for the future."

Townsend has served as Showtime Networks’ Chief Financial Officer since October 2018. He joined CBS in July 2008 and for a decade served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations, where he was responsible for overseeing CBS Corporation’s daily outreach to the investment community and analyzing the Company’s competitive positioning. He had oversight of the Company’s Treasury functions, and served as a member of the Investment Committee for CBS Defined Contribution Plans. Townsend also created and led the Company’s investor communication strategy for the IPO of its Outdoor business and the split-off of CBS Radio through a transaction with Entercom. In that role, Townsend received professional recognition for excellence in investor relations from various industry publications. He was voted #1 Media Investor Relations Officer by sellside analysts in Institutional Investors Magazine’s Annual All-American Executive Team survey for seven consecutive years (2012-2018), and received the Overall Best Media IR Professional ranking in 2017 and 2018. Prior to CBS, he also received IR Magazine’s 2004 award for Most Improved IR Program across all industries.

Before joining CBS, Townsend served as Managing Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy for the E*TRADE Financial Corporation, which included working with its CEO on identifying global expansion opportunities, providing quarterly presentations to its board of directors on the company’s competitive positioning, public/investor perception, stock valuation and analyst research coverage. He also served as E*TRADE’s primary investor contact through more than $5 billion in capital markets transactions over four years. Townsend was a Vice President in Equity Research at Hambrecht & Quist and JP Morgan from 1999-2002 in the firm’s Financial Institutions Group, where he was responsible for primary research coverage of publicly traded companies in the online trading and investing technology sector. Prior to JP Morgan, Townsend held various positions at Franklin Templeton Investments in the areas of equity research, marketing research and broker service operations.

Crotty returns to Showtime Networks after serving as Chief Financial Officer of The Players’ Tribune since 2016, where he had oversight of the company’s finance, operations, sales and marketing, branded production, corporate strategy, and legal departments. He was also responsible for all board management and investor relations. Crotty lead the growth and scale of the organization post Series A funding - quadrupling the company's staff and growing revenue across diversified business lines in advertising, licensing and original production. During his tenure, he added oversight of the commercial side of the business focused on revenue growth, operational margin improvement, client renewals, establishing distribution partnerships and creating sustainable sales packages in digital video, editorial, audio and social products. He also successfully raised $40M in Series B from top private equity and venture capital firms, millions in debt facilities, led the TPT acquisition of Unscriptd and led the successful acquisition of TPT by Minute Media.  

Crotty previously served as Senior Vice President, Affiliate Revenue and Business Operations for SNI. While at Showtime, he led three teams that were responsible for the financial oversight and business operations management of the company's distribution revenue platform and sales, marketing, new product development and creative expenses, and guided strategic analysis on issues pertaining to distribution and growth on traditional and non-traditional affiliate accounts. Prior to this, he was one of the key executives that launched Smithsonian Networks, serving as Vice President, Finance, Business Development and Operations. In this role, he oversaw finance, revenue growth, financial, broadcast and VOD operations and business development. He first joined SNI as a Business Analyst in 2002.

Crotty previously held roles at Arthur Andersen LLP and at Altria Group, Inc., previously Philip Morris Companies Inc.  He has an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and has a B.B.A. from Baruch College, where he majored in Accounting. He has also served as Treasurer and Board of Director for non-profit organization Creative Alternatives of NY.  He will be based in Showtime Networks’ New York offices.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc., owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL and FLIX®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network's authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS, and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Amazon, Apple®, Google, LG Smart TVs, Oculus Go, Roku®, Samsung Smart TVs and Xbox One. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, Apple TV Channels, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Viewers can also watch on computers at Showtime.com. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.

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