United Artists Media Group 
ABC Entertainment 
CW Network, The 
Mark Pedowitz is lengthening his tenure as the top executive at the CW. The veteran broadcast chief has extended his contract to serve as president of the network, which is co-owned by CBS Corp. and Warner Bros.The extension comes fewer than two years after Pedowitz last renewed his deal at the network.Since taking the reins of the CW in 2011, Pedowitz has broadened the network's audience, guiding it away from a hard skew favoring young female viewers and toward a...
CW Network, The
Mark
Pedowitz
President
Mark Pedowitz raised his stature in the TV industry by parlaying his savvy as a business dealmaker into higher profile roles overseeing creative enterprises. He is highly regarded as a skilled manager of people and the TV production process.
The CW has prospered since Pedowitz took the helm as president in April 2011. The network honed its focus on branded superhero properties from the DC Comics vault owned by parent company Warner Bros., and by broadening its audience target beyond young women. He also drove its embrace of multiplatform distribution as a means of monetizing its programming investments and addressing linear ratings shortfalls.
Pedowitz first made his mark during a nearly 20-year run at ABC. He joined the network in 1991 as senior VP of business affairs and contracts. He rose through the department ranks quickly as he demonstrated his skill in crafting innovative deals and building relationships with the network’s studio partners. In 2004, he was tapped to lead Disney’s TV production arm, Touchstone Television (now ABC Studios). He steered the studio through a period of rapid growth as it turned out such hits as “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds.”
Pedowitz left Disney in 2009 amid corporate infighting within ABC. He spent a little more than a year as a producer based at Warner Bros. TV before he was plucked by Warners and CW co-owner CBS Corp. for the CW post.
Early in his career, Pedowitz worked in business affairs for MCA Inc., for Reeves Entertainment/Alan Landsburg Productions and for MGM. Pedowitz earned his undergraduate degree in history from Rockford College and a law degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago.
