Bob Leighton has seen much change in 40+ years of experience in multichannel pay television, both in the US and internationally.  Leighton joined Liberty Global, largest broadband and cable company outside of the US in 2005, and is currently SVP, Programming, maintaining relationships with US program suppliers and cable and satellite distributors.

Previously, he headed Programming for Starz Encore for 7 years, negotiating billion dollar film output deals with Hollywood studios, including the industry’s first deals with internet distribution rights, and also launched Starz’s initial moves into original programming.

Bob joined HBO in its infancy in 1980, developing broad pay tv experience over the next 17 years in a variety of roles. By the 1990’s he was based in Europe and oversaw the development, launch, and operation of numerous pay and basic cable and satellite channels across multiple markets. Previous assignments at HBO in New York during the 1980s included Director of Programming, Cinemax and Director of Audience Research. Mr. Leighton began his television career at Young & Rubicam in 1979, purchasing commercial advertising time on both broadcast network programming and the earliest ad-supported cable tv channels.

Mr. Leighton holds a MBA from Columbia University and a BA from Harvard College.