By Cynthia Littleton (Variety)
Syndie biz vet Koondel was promoted in October to a perch designed to give him the 30,000-foot view on the Eye’s content licensing deals across all divisions, from CBS News to CBS Films. He’s been Leslie Moonves’ go-to guy on the digital sales that have greatly padded CBS Corp.’s bottom line during the past two years. Koondel was instrumental in setting the CW’s mammoth licensing pacts with Netflix and Hulu, revenue windfalls that saved the CBS-Warner Bros. joint venture from shutting down. Koondel has also been opportunistic in nabbing rights to non-CBS shows for distribution, such as TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland.”
“We’re at a huge crossroads right now,” Koondel says. “It used to be a pretty simple world where you’d syndicate a show after four seasons. Now it’s all about strategizing on how you window content to best monetize its value.”
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