Paramount Movies Added to Escape, Grit Networks

Katz Broadcasting reached a licensing deal with Paramount Pictures covering about 200 films that will air on Katz’s two new digital broadcast networks, Escape and Grit.

Katz, run by former Turner executive Jonathan Katz (pictured), also added Bill Cox as senior VP programming for Grit and Walter Naar as VP programming for Escape. Both execs worked with Katz at Turner Broadcasting.

Paramount titles including The Accused, Dead Man Walking and The Hours will appear on Escape, which is aimed at women 25 to 54.

Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gary Cooper are among the actors featured in films picked for Grit, a network aimed at men 25 to 54. Titles include Escape From Alcatraz, Top Gun, The Running Man and High Noon. Grit will also have cowboy movies starring John Wayne and Roy Rogers.

The networks are expected to launch in August and have already been cleared on stations representing 50% of the country.

Katz previously reached licensing deals for movies from Warner Bros. and Universal.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.