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Kimball out, Beckett named Fusion Chief Programming Officer

September 11, 2014 by Veronica Villafañe

Billy Kimball and Wade Beckett
Billy Kimball (L) will be replaced by Wade Beckett as Fusion’s Chief Programming Officer.

Less than a year since its launch, Fusion’s top programmer is calling it quits. Billy Kimball, who was named Chief Programming Officer of the Univision/ABC joint venture in May of last year, is stepping down from the position.

CEO Isaac Lee today announced Kimball’s departure and his replacement: Wade Beckett.

“Under Billy’s leadership we had a successful launch and have premiered a number of shows — from “AMERICA with Jorge Ramos” and “Alicia Menendez Tonight” to “Fusion Live” and “No, You Shut Up,” wrote Lee in an email to staff, in which he thanked Kimball for his work and expressed his “hope to continue working with him on a number of projects in the future.”

There was no mention of the short-lived, yet highly hyped show “DNA,” which was axed in January – less than 3 months after Fusion’s launch, or “The morning show” that was moved to primetime, or that Jorge Ramos’ “América” was downsized from daily to weekly.

Wade Beckett, a showrunner for ESPN’s SportsNation, will take over from Kimball. Over the next few weeks he’ll be working from Los Angeles, where he’s currently based, but will be moving and working full-time in Miami in early October.

Before ESPN, Beckett spent over six years as a Supervising Producer for NBCUniversal’s G4 network and an Executive Producer for X-Play. He also oversaw the network’s yearly live broadcasts of E3 and San Diego’s Comic Con convention as well as a series of biography-based specials.

 

Filed Under: People, TV & Radio Tagged With: Billy Kimball, Fusion, Wade Beckett

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Veronica Villafañe, Editor & Publisher

Emmy award-winning journalist and former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). Currently a reporter for Voice of America, she has worked as an on-air reporter, anchor, writer and producer for Spanish and English-language TV, print and online media, including Univision, Telemundo, Fox 11 News in L.A. and the San Jose Mercury News.

Hispanic media and entertainment contributor to Forbes.

Full bio here
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