Andrea Wong Swaps Lifetime for Liberty

Former Women's Executive Joins Liberty Media Board

By Claire Atkinson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/29/2010 4:36:13 PM

Liberty Media Corp. announced Thursday April 29 that former Lifetime chief, Andrea Wong, has joined its board.
The former president and chief executive of the women's channel will sit alongside other "Class 3," board members who include: Robert Bennett, also a Discovery Communications board member; Ian Gilchrist, a fomer Citigroup executive: and Liberty's chairman, John Malone.
Wong will be on the audit committee and oversee compensation and corporate governance but will not sit on the executive committee.

"Andrea's extensive experience in media and expertise in programming will be valuable in helping guide Liberty," said Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty Media in a statement. "We look forward to her contributions as our newest board member."

Wong had spent 14 years at ABC, famously shepherding Dancing With the Stars, to the network before joining the women's cable channel then owned by Disney Co. and Hearst. Lifetime was recently merged into A&E Television Networks and Wong departed as her contract expired. The network has been hit by increased competition in the women's field from the likes of NBC Universal's Bravo and Oxygen and Scripps Networks services Food Network and HGTV.

Liberty Media assets include IAC/InterActiveCorp, QVC and Starz, the premium cable outlet that is run by former HBO programming honcho, Chris Albrecht, as president and CEO.