New voyage for Discovery

Ten years ago Discovery was a world-renowned broadcaster of factual programming with award-winning documentaries spread over a typical 10 channel bouquet and active in some 220 markets.

Jean-Briac (JB) Perrette, who joined DNI in October 2011 as chief digital officer, has over the past few years helped change that paradigm. He was promoted to run the international business in January 2014.

His boss, David Zaslav summed up Perrette’s appointment in an interview at the time, saying: “JB has it all. A strong strategic vision, operational expertise and exceptional team-building skills.”

Those words came about in the same week that Discovery announced its plans to increase its existing 20% stake in Eurosport to 51%. That stake became 100% ownership in July 2015. Since then the acquisitions and developments have…