EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Players has acquired Unboxing, a script from Ice Age: The Meltdown writer Jim Hecht that indie studio Pocket.watch has been set to produce as a feature film. Albie Hecht, the former Nickelodeon and HLN boss and now Pocket.watch’s chief creative officer, is the producer. The plot centers on a…

Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson is set to revisit the days of All That with a new live-action sketch comedy show for kids titled Skoogle at pocket.watch, a media brand that creates, acquires, distributes and curates content for kids ages 2-11.  Thompson will reteam with Albie Hecht, Chief Content…

Chris Williams, Albie Hecht and Jon Moonves are teaming up to launch Pocketwatch, a media brand that creates, acquires, distributes and curates content for kids age 2-11 and presents it across a variety of platforms. Set to officially launch this summer, with additional brands aimed at pre-school and parents rolling…

CNN chief Jeff Zucker this morning announced to staff his new plan for goosing ratings on HLN: “driving HLN's programming during the daytime and overnight hours closer to CNN's, and by utilizing a much stronger library of content that has been built in the last three years.” Bye bye, Albie Hecht. "I am extremely proud…

HLN this morning unveiled its first program development slate since newly rebranding itself earlier this month as “the first TV home for the social media generation (millennials and the millennial-minded).” "HLN is driving a development slate with a key goal in mind: debunk the myth that the world of social media is…

HLN said this morning it will reformat and rebrand itself this year to become “the first TV network for the social media generation.” The network vowed to “redefine TV news and information, driven by what’s trending, being shared and going viral across all screens.” Taking its assignments from “today’s connected and…

Albie Hecht continues his march through HLN, today whacking Showbiz Tonight in the midst of trophy season. The entire staff — about a dozen strong — is out, excluding host A.J. Hammer, who will stay on to cover entertainment news for Hecht's new vision of the network. The final broadcast will be Thursday when nobody…

HLN EVP and General Manager Albie Hecht today announced the hiring of Keith Brown, SVP Programming; Kari Kim, VP Program Development; and Adrienne Lopez, Director, Special Projects. The hiring announcement comes a couple weeks after HLN's health and wellness weekend programming brand "upwave" achieved a two-decade…

Katherine Green, SVP and Managing Editor of HLN, is leaving as new GM Albie Hecht refocuses the network’s primetime and daytime strategy. Green joined HLN in 2011 after three years at CNN International, where she’d served as SVP and GM. At HLN, Green oversaw overall on-air presentation, editorial content and digital…

About one month after taking over as GM and exec vp at HLN, former Spike TV-founder Albie Hecht made some scheduling moves. Kyra Phillips-anchored Raising America and Ryan Smith-anchored Evening Express are gone, as of November 18. Raising America is being replaced by a repeat of previous day’s Showbiz Tonight; Evening…

Albie Hecht has been named EVP and GM of HLN, effective September 30. Hecht, who founded Spike TV and was president of Nickelodeon Entertainment prior to that, is currently CEO of Worldwide Biggies, a digital entertainment studio. Scot Safon is the guy he’s replacing. Safon, a  22-year Turner Broadcasting vet — half…