Garth Ancier (born September 3, 1957) is an American film and television producer and media executive.

Early life

Ancier graduated from the Lawrenceville School in 1975 and Princeton University in 1979. In radio, he created American Focus, a weekly national interview program carried by over 300 radio stations in the U.S., including New York's WNBC, under the non-profit Focus on Youth. Ancier served as executive producer and host of over 250 episodes through 1979, each featuring a full-length career retrospective interview with guests ranging from Ayn Rand to Henry Fonda to David Brinkley. The show continued production for 17 years. Other guests included presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford, George H. W. Bush, and Caspar W. Weinberger, Lucille Ball, Howard Cosell, Henry Fonda, Tom Wolfe and Pete Rose. Five hundred of its programs were given to what is now known as the Paley Center for Media in 1984. when NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff hired him as a program associate. He rose through the ranks and supervised production of the network's top comedies including The Cosby Show, Cheers, Family Ties and Golden Girls.

In 1986, Barry Diller, Jamie Kellner and Rupert Murdoch tapped the then 28-year-old Ancier to be the founding entertainment president for the new Fox Broadcasting Company, where he put The Tracey Ullman Show, 21 Jump Street, Married... with Children, The Simpsons, In Living Color, America's Most Wanted, and COPS on the air.

Ancier went from Fox (resigning March 1, 1989) to Disney as president of network television for Walt Disney Studios on April 18, 1989. He developed Home Improvement and oversaw Disney's signature franchise The Magical World of Disney, hosted by Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

From October 1991 through July 1992, Ancier served as the television consultant to the Democratic National Committee, specifically to advise on the television presentation of the Democratic Convention in New York City and reporting to DNC Chairman Ron Brown. In that role, Ancier introduced political convention format innovations, such as a 56-screen "videowall" integrated into the convention podium and program, to such forums for the first time. Later on, Ancier's production company developed and produced the talk show Jane Pratt, which debuted in mid-March 1992 on WNYW-TV in New York City and was intended for nationwide launch. However, despite good ratings, the show ended after only 11 weeks in production, as co-producer and distributor 20th Television felt it was too expensive for them to seek a return on their investment in the program.

Also in late 1992, Ancier co-created and executive produced Ricki Lake Ancier was forced out from NBC in November 2000. (including the WB) and programmed CNN, TBS, TNT, etc., where he launched CNN's American Morning and its signature 10PM newscast with Anderson Cooper, as well as expanded Adult Swim on Cartoon Network by acquiring the then-cancelled Family Guy series from 20th Century Fox.

Ancier returned to The WB as co-chairman in September 2003, then became the Chairman of the WB Television Network from May 2004 until its merger with UPN to form The CW in September 2006,

He served as first president of BBC Worldwide America from February 2007–March 2010,

In April 2013, Ancier formed Zeus Media Partners, Inc. as a retro cable network company to provide four decade focused channels (1960s–1990s), later called The Quad.

Ancier has worked for a number of media corporations as a senior advisor to management on digital streaming, SVOD and vMVPD projects. His most notable clients have been Intel Media on a virtual-MSO system, and IAC/Vimeo.

He is also known for being one of only two people (the other being Fred Silverman) to have programmed three of the five American broadcast television networks (founding programmer at Fox, founding programmer at The WB (now The CW), and NBC Entertainment).

References

  • "Former NBC official takes job at Turner", The New York Times, March 21, 2001.
  • Finke, Nikki, "Garth Ancier Stepping Down As President Of BBC America In U.S.; In Works Since July", November 19, 2009.