Michele Barney spent two decades at DirecTV and then AT&T, one of the biggest pay TV distributors in the country, negotiating deals with programmers. She loved it and earned a reputation for being a fair bargainer who wanted to solve problems for both parties at the table.
Trained as an accountant and then as a lawyer, she became an attorney for DirecTV doing programming deals. There, she fully embraced the business of TV. That’s a good thing because, after it became clear that AT&T was planning to sell the pay TV business to private equity, she opened herself up to consider other opportunities. And an excellent one presented itself on the programmer side of the business.
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Discovery Inc. hired her in early 2021 as president of affiliate distribution, managing Discovery networks’ carriage with cable, satellite, telco and digital distributors across the U.S. and Canada.
After the merger that created Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Barney transitioned into a new role leading partnership management for WBD’s affiliates, global platforms and retail partners and transactional businesses. At WBD, there have been relationships with distributors to maintain, keeping vital revenue coming in, and new things to help grow, such as Magnolia Network and streaming platforms Discovery Plus and HBO Max.
The next big challenge — which she embraces — is the new combination of the two streaming entities into one, called Max and having launched May 23.
Keeps Calm in Chaos
WBD senior VP, marketing strategy Kelly Kane knew of Barney from her time at DirecTV before working for her at Discovery and then WBD. She’s been impressed with how her boss has rolled with the changes.
“She left a job of 20 years,” Kane noted. “She came to Discovery during the pandemic. She was so determined and hardworking. And then the Warner Bros. Discovery merger was announced, five to six months into her time with us, and never did it come across as anything like the sky is falling. It was always very even-keeled. She’s very good at ensuring that people remain calm and keep doing what they love.”
WBD senior VP, distribution Gabe Sauerhoff was impressed that, even though Barney came from the distributor side of the negotiation table, “how open-minded she was to seeing how the proverbial sausage gets made on the other side of it. And I think she incorporated the best of both perspectives into the way that she did her job here at Discovery.”
Her positivity is infectious, but it’s not positivity without regard to the reality of the situation. I think that’s one of her real gifts.”
— Gabe Sauerhoff, Warner Bros. Discovery
That helped in a short period of time to complete a number of strategic renewals and forge new relationships that “really put her stamp on her tenure at Discovery,” he said. (He cited deals with Hulu Plus Live TV and Verizon.)
“Her positivity is infectious, but it’s not positivity without regard to the reality of the situation,” Sauerhoff said. “I think that’s one of her real gifts.”
Barney, a California native whose parents met when her Navy dad was stationed in Japan, leveraged her corporate transactional skills acquired at Latham & Watkins to get the DirecTV job, at a time when distributors were acquiring stakes in programmers as part of deals. “Even as a lawyer, I really liked it,” she said.
Coming over to Discovery, what she really loved about it was “it was so small and nimble and decisions were made just more quickly” than at AT&T (where, she proudly notes, she was promoted to corporate officer). Then the WBD merger happened. “And so now we’re a much bigger company again, not as big as AT&T though,” she said. “But I really like it. I feel like I made the right decision because I’ve learned so much.”
The Thrill of a Launch
Asked what she likes most about her job these days, Barney said: “We’re getting ready to launch our new enhanced app, Max. It’s really fun, doing all of the work to bring a new product to market. I love the product, and it’s just a really exciting time for our company. And I’m still learning after 22 years in this business. I have a great team.”
And what she likes least? “Maybe the uncertainty around what’s happening with video and linear video in particular, and long term where’s the business going,” Barney said. So she is mindful of “just keeping people positive and focused on the opportunities ahead and not necessarily just worried about the potential negativity.”
