LIONSGATE NAMES INDUSTRY VETERAN LAWRENCE SZABO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICA TELEVISION SALES; ROUNDS OUT WORLDWIDE TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION TEAM

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Oct 17, 2011, 09:00 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawrence Szabo, an 18-year veteran of MGM's Worldwide Television Group, has been named Lionsgate's (NYSE: LGF) new Executive Vice President of North America Television Sales as part of the Company's continuing centralization of its worldwide television group at its Santa Monica, California headquarters and ongoing focus on monetizing its television and film content across all platforms in North America. The announcement was made by Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television Distribution and Digital Operations Jim Packer, to whom Mr. Szabo and the worldwide television distribution team reports.

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Mr. Szabo's North American distribution responsibilities will include sales of all Lionsgate television content across all platforms in the U.S. and all new television content to digital and traditional media platforms in Canada as well as coordinating with Alliance Films on distribution of the Lionsgate filmed entertainment library in Canada.

Mr. Szabo held a series of progressively responsible international home entertainment and television executive positions during his 18-year tenure at MGM, and he most recently served as Senior Vice President of the MGM Worldwide Television Group and co-Managing Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, based in London. In this capacity he was responsible for MGM's television distribution and television library sales in numerous key international territories, and he innovated digital marketing strategies for the distribution of the James Bond feature film franchise across international pay and free TV platforms. A graduate of UCLA and the Wharton School, Mr. Szabo began his career with First Interstate's investment banking group.

"I have known Lawrence for many years, and he is ideally qualified to help lead Lionsgate's worldwide television distribution initiatives as our TV and feature film brands continue to drive our growth throughout North America and around the world," said Mr. Packer. "He will be a key lieutenant as we utilize our content leadership, strong brands and focus on the platforms of the future to elevate our worldwide television distribution to the next level of performance."

"I've been watching Lionsgate's bold production strategy for a number of years, and I am thrilled to be joining a company that produces ground-breaking entertainment, from Emmy-winning MAD MEN to future franchises such as HUNGER GAMES," said Mr. Szabo. "I'm excited to join Jim's distribution team and work with North American pay, free and digital broadcasters to realize their respective programming and branding objectives."

Mr. Packer noted that the Company continues to round out its worldwide television distribution and digital operations team at its Santa Monica headquarters as David Nonaka, recently promoted Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs, assumes fulltime legal oversight of worldwide television licensing and Kate Nexon and Bruce Field have been promoted to key positions within the digital operations group.

Mr. Packer also praised departing Lionsgate television sales executive Rand Stoll, noting that "Rand has compiled an impressive track record of North American television sales during his many years of valuable service to the Company but, with the centralization of the worldwide television distribution function at our California headquarters, he has elected to remain in New York and will continue as a consultant to our North American television distribution business beginning next year."

About Lionsgate

Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution and new channel platforms. The Company has built a strong television presence in production of prime time cable and broadcast network series, distribution and syndication of programming and an array of channel assets. Lionsgate currently has 15 shows on more than 10 networks spanning its prime time production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as "Mad Men", "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie" along with the comedy "Blue Mountain State," the upcoming drama "Boss" and the syndication successes "Tyler Perry's House Of Payne", its spinoff "Meet The Browns", the upcoming "For Better or Worse," "The Wendy Williams Show" and "Are We There Yet?".

Its feature film business has generated more than half a billion dollars at the North American box office in the past year, fueled by such successes as THE LINCOLN LAWYER, TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY, THE EXPENDABLES, THE LAST EXORCISM, TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?, KICK ASS and the critically-acclaimed PRECIOUS, which won two Academy Awards®. The Company's home entertainment business has grown to 8% market share and is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 13,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand remains synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.

For further information, please contact:
Peter D. Wilkes
[email protected]
310-255-3726

SOURCE Lionsgate