Jane Rice Makes Her Mark By Giving Back
A native of Ireland, Jane is recognized as one of the leading programming execs in the US.
In today’s edition of TV Leaders Today, we turn our attention to Jane Rice, a 20+ year veteran of the television business who has been at the forefront of dealmaking for nearly all of that time. Jane, however, has equally made her mark by serving as a mentor to countless colleagues throughout her tenure in the media business. Today, Jane serves as Executive Vice President of Distribution and Marketing, at A+E Networks where she oversees content distribution, both in the US and in Canada, for A+E Network’s portfolio of services, including A&E, History and Lifetime. Her responsibilities include linear, on demand, mobile and OTT. Prior to joining A+E Networks, Jane was Vice President, Field Sales, Disney and ESPN Media Networks. Jane is a graduate of WICT’s Betsy Magness Leadership Institute and held a seat on WICT’s Global Board of Directors for six years. Jane has been named one of Cablefax’s Most Powerful Women in Cable consistently since 2013, was selected as one of Ireland’s Most Influential Women by the Irish Voice in 2011 and was honored in 2015, by Multichannel News, as a Wonder Woman. She is a former Board Director for CTAM and a member of Chief.
What was your first position in the media business and what interested you in pursuing this type of career?
It wasn’t a straight path for me and the truth is I sort of fell into the media business. I was born and raised in Ireland and graduated with a degree in Law from University College London. I won a green card in the Morrison Visa Lottery and thought I’d come to New York for a year or two and then head back home but as they say “the best laid plans….” My first job was with an Irish attorney who specialized in Personal Injury and Immigration Law. Let’s just say it wasn’t for me. A good friend of mine was working at a small start-up called Catalog One – a joint venture between Time Warner and Spiegel (I’m definitely aging myself here 😊) and they needed someone to answer the phones, so I took a leap of faith and went for it. I was lucky enough to find some great mentors and sponsors there that helped me quickly grow into a role drafting legal talent contracts and subsequently doing television production work for the Full Service Network (Time Warner’s foray into interactive television). As Bob Iger would say “It was one hell of a ride.” It was so fun to be a part of such an entrepreneurial team at a time when the internet was just evolving and we were uncovering all sorts of new business lines for the cable TV industry. I was hooked on the dynamic media industry and have been ever since.
As you look over the entirety of your career in the media business, what changes and similarities are you most surprised about?
When I started in media sales, digital television had exploded and distributors needed to fill that bandwidth with great content so it was easy to get deals done. We were calling on distributors all over the US that had the ability to make decisions locally and it was fast paced and exciting. Over time, decision making became centralized and deals were only done at the corporate level. With the pressures of sports programming costs, cord cutting and the explosion of alternate ways of viewing content, let’s just say getting deals done today is much more challenging — but no less exciting as we constantly drive innovative solutions.
I always felt like this was an exciting industry that leaned into the intersection of creativity and technology, and what I will say despite all the change is that the great constant is that compelling content has and always will be needed. I’ve been lucky over the course of my career to work for some of the best media companies in the business: Time Warner, Disney and ESPN and now A+E Networks. Strong brands will always rise to the top and so for me that’s a constant.
It’s also been a privilege to develop such strong relationships with clients and colleagues throughout the years. I sort of “grew up” in the media business with the great team at ESPN. I would never have imagined that these relationships would follow me through the years. I have forged such great friendships with so many amazing and talented executives through the years that I truly hold dear.
How do you see the media industry evolving over the next five years?
I think we will continue to see technology evolve to meet the needs of consumers. We still have a long way to go with search and discovery of content so I think there will be improvements in that area. I also think there will be a reimagining of ad sales to better suit consumer demands.
How have you tried to develop your management and leadership skills throughout your career?
As it relates to leadership development skills, I’m a huge fan of WICT and all that Maria Brennan and her team have done for our industry. I sat on the WICT Global Board for serval years and I’m a proud alumnus of the BMLI program, which is an exceptional development program for female executives in our industry.
I’m also bullish on mentoring and being mentored. I’m part of a wonderful group of women at A+E Networks that developed a female mentoring and leadership program for high performing women leaders at A+E Networks, called SPARK. SPARK is an award-winning program (honored by Cablefax in 2020 for best mentoring program) that just kicked off class 4 and we have graduated almost 60 women since inception. It feels really rewarding to give back in this way. I’m also very fortunate and honored to be among the A+E Networks female executives mentored by Abbe Raven, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of A+E Networks. This work continues under the leadership of Paul Buccieri, President & Chairman, A+E Networks Group. Paul is a tremendous champion of women and DEI across A+E Networks and throughout the industry.
In addition to mentoring, I’ve always tried to lean into George Bodenheimer’s mantra “Be a student of the business.” I was lucky enough to work under George’s leadership during my tenure at ESPN and his words have stayed with me throughout my career. The media business is complex and nuanced and there shouldn’t be a day that goes by that you don’t learn something new.
If you were graduating from college this year, what advice would you give aspiring media executives?
Interestingly, I have one of those soon to be graduates in my own house, although she’s focused on the music end of the media industry. What I have told her, I would tell anyone else: network, network, network. Do your homework on the companies you are interested in – set up Google business alerts to keep up to date. Read the industry trades and the media sections from news outlets so that you understand and can speak at a high level about the challenges and opportunities that the industry is facing. In addition to all of this, it’s important to round out your skill set. For example, if you’re looking for a position in marketing it’s important to understand how that role impacts technology and finance, etc. Lastly if you can’t get a full-time position right away, look at part-time positions or paid internships so you can get some experience under your feet.