The mysterious El Rey Network, of which little information has been revealed, today announced it has hired former Telemundo executive Antoinette Alfonso Zel as its CEO.
Zel comes to filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s Hispanic-themed entertainment network scheduled to launch at the end of 2013, after 4 years as CEO, President and Partner of ad agency La Comunidad.
She was previously Senior Executive Vice President, Network Strategy for the NBC Universal/Telemundo Network, where she oversaw the broadcast network’s marketing, digital and consumer research and ran all aspects of cable networks Mun2 and Telemundo Internacional.
Prior to joining Telemundo, she spent 13 years at Viacom’s MTV Networks, where she held multiple executives positions, including President of MTV Networks Latin America.
El Rey also announced it hired industry veteran Dave Cassaro as the head of the El Rey launch team. An experienced cable and advertising sales exec, Cassaro will spearhead the team that will communicate and collaborate with marketers, distributors and partners to aid in successfully launching El Rey.
Cassaro was previously the President of Cable Advertising Sales at NBC Universal where he was responsible for cable entertainment and digital advertising sales. Before that, he was President of Comcast Network Advertising Sales for national networks, including E!, The Style Network, G4, Golf Channel, Versus, PBS KIDS Sprout, as well as all new media and VOD properties.
El Rey is one of two Hispanic-themed networks that Comcast selected earlier this year to add to its lineup as part of the diversity requirements to get FCC approval for the merger.