CBS Paramount Taps McKairnes to Build Cable Business

By Josef Adalian

In a bid to build up its cable business, CBS Paramount Network Television has hired Jim McKairnes in the newly created position of senior vice president for cable development and strategic planning.

Mr. McKairnes will work next to Bela Bajaria, the studio’s senior VP for cable programming and movies. Ms. Bajaria will continue to focus on drama development, while Mr. McKairnes will head up efforts to expand into comedy and concentrate on finding international formats and multiplatform opportunities.

Both Mr. McKairnes and Ms. Bajaria report to CBS Paramount Network Television President David Stapf. The move represents a homecoming for Mr. McKairnes, who spent 13 years at the CBS Television Network before moving to Discovery Networks in 2006.

“I worked with Jim for years on the network side and have always admired and respected his intuition for what makes good programming and for what audiences want to watch,” Mr. Stapf said. “His experience in both the cable and network arenas will help set the course for our exploration into new creative ways to take advantage of today’s media landscape.”

Mr. Stapf, noting the “demand for original programming on cable networks is growing,” said CBS Paramount was looking to meet those needs with its newly expanded cable division.

CBS Paramount’s cable roster includes the recently launched A&E series “The Cleaner,” which stars Benjamin Bratt. The studio also produced a two-hour pilot for Sci Fi called “Revolution” and has projects in the works at Showtime (“Bicoastal,” “Jingle”), FX (“Covenants”) and AMC (“Sheiks of Polk County”).

During his dozen-plus years at CBS, Mr. McKairnes worked first in the current programming department before shifting to program planning and scheduling. He rose to senior vice president of the latter department.