Hammer nails high post at Sci Fi

Bonnie Hammer has been promoted to president, a newly created position, at the Sci Fi Channel.

Formerly executive vice president and general manager of the USA Network-owned property, Hammer will continue to oversee all Sci Fi activities, including programming, licensing, marketing and SciFi.com Web site operations. Coups for Hammer since she started heading up the channel in 1998, include moving Sci Fi into top ten standing among cable networks, doubling its programming budget, and hiking its distribution from 50 to 70 million.

Hammer, previously a programming executive at Lifetime Television, recently announced two new projects to roll out in 2002: Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, based on Robinson's best-selling books about Mars, and a futuristic twist on Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. - Susanne Ault