Courtney Menzel serves as Senior Vice President, Domestic Distribution, for Discovery Communications, where she leads the National Accounts and Field Sales and Marketing efforts for Discovery’s Domestic Distribution team, responsible for the strategic oversight and distribution of a portfolio of 13 U.S. networks, nine HD channels and all Discovery U.S. Hispanic networks.
An accomplished 20-year affiliate sales and marketing executive, Menzel oversees all aspects of Discovery’s partnerships with distributors, as well as its industry-lauded sales and marketing team. She develops and directs all national accounts’ strategy with the top distributors, and oversees the Domestic Distribution Field Sales team and all Affiliate Marketing efforts nationwide. Menzel manages the teams in the Silver Spring headquarters location, as well as the Los Angeles and Charlotte regional offices.
Menzel joined Discovery in 2012 from Current Media, where she led all affiliate sales and partner marketing initiatives. Among her many accomplishments for Current, Menzel strategically negotiated affiliate agreements to secure long-term carriage and revenue; created and drove a comprehensive, company-wide strategy for distributing Current’s TV video content across platforms; and secured Current’s first national VOD and TV Everywhere deals.
Prior to joining Current, Menzel spent 14 years at MTV Networks, in various senior distribution and marketing roles. There, she developed strategic relationships with major distributors and increased carriage for a number of networks including TV Land, Comedy Central, MTV2, CMT, Logo and BET. Among her many achievements for MTV Networks, Menzel led partnership negotiations with affiliates and forged key marketing initiatives, most notably a multi-platform music partnership with Comcast and VH1 "Storytellers." Her most recent charge for MTV Networks was leading distribution and marketing strategy for EPIX, the joint venture involving Viacom’s Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM. In less than one year, Menzel and her team grew distribution of EPIX to 30 million available homes. Menzel started her career in the cable industry as a marketing manager for Cox Communications.
Among her many industry achievements and affiliations, Menzel was named to CableFAX’s Most Powerful Women in Cable list in 2012 and 2013 as well as Multichannel News’ Women to Watch list in 2014. She is a member of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT). She is also a two-time CTAM Mark Award winner and served on a committee to develop WICT’s senior executive leadership program.
Menzel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Delaware.
