Redbox Hires Second Warner Home Video Executive

24 Sep, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Mike Saksa joins Mark Horak, former president of the Americas at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, who was named president in February

Redbox Sept. 24 named Mike Saksa as its SVP of content. Based in Los Angeles, Saksa will lead the company's content strategy across movies and games and establish a content marketing team to continue to advance partnerships with studios and publishers. The content marketing team will include title marketing, digital marketing and content analytics.

Saksa is the second senior Warner Bros. Home Entertainment executive to join Redbox following the hiring of Mark Horak in February as president of the kiosk vendor. Warner is currently undergoing studiowide staff cuts, with home entertainment notably in the crosshairs.

"The appointment of industry veteran Mike Saksa, and the creation of an L.A.-based content marketing team, will allow us to work more closely with studios and publishers interested in leveraging Redbox's deep relationships with millions of consumers to drive incremental revenue for their new release titles," Horak said in a statement.

Indeed, the hiring comes as Redbox faces pending content distribution renewals with several studios, including Lionsgate. That latter agreement expired in August with no renewal announced. B. Riley & Co. analyst Eric Wold surmised the lack of a renewal indicated Lionsgate is looking for better terms.

A Redbox representative said the company doesn’t comment on “partner discussions."

Meanwhile, Saksa most recently served as EVP and GM of theatrical new releases at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Saksa oversaw the studio's film slate, including some of the studio's most successful franchises such as "Harry Potter," The Dark Knight Trilogy and "The Hobbit," and led Warner through several significant industry transitions, including digital adoption. Saksa holds a B.S. in financial management from the University of Delaware and received his M.B.A. in marketing from Drexel University. He also holds an M.F.A. in Cinema/TV from the University of Southern California.

 

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