NEW YORK, NY, February 09, 2012
/24-7PressRelease/ -- Grand Prix Entertainment (GPE), a Los Angeles-based sports and entertainment company, announced today the appointment of Gary Marenzi, the former president of MGM Worldwide Television as Chairman of Grand Prix Studios a new operating unit responsible for the production and sales of Grand Prix's sports broadcasting, pay-per-view, reality shows and other digital content related to its sports ventures starting with professional rugby in partnership with USA Rugby.
Grand Prix Entertainment and USA Rugby have established an unprecedented partnership for the development of professional Rugby Sevens in the US granting Grand Prix exclusive sanction rights to own, operate and globally broadcast the sport of professional US Rugby Sevens, and the global broadcast distribution rights for its events across all media. Rugby Sevens will be included in the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
USA Rugby is the official governing board for Rugby in the USA and home of the Eagles, the US national rugby team. Grand Prix Entertainment is fully sanctioned by USA Rugby acting in cooperation with, and under the rules and regulations of, rugby's worldwide governing body, the IRB.
Of the Marenzi appointment, William Tatham, Chairman of Grand Prix Entertainment said, "Gary brings a wealth of knowledge to our new Studios division leveraging his highly successful career in international broadcast rights sales handling billions of dollars of content distribution. With his oversight we fully expect Grand Prix Studios to be a new center of excellence in sports broadcasting."
Gary Marenzi is the founder and president of Marenzi & Associates, which provides strategic management advice and implementation for the media and entertainment industry.
Marenzi most recently served as President of the Worldwide Television Group for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), from 2007 until mid-2011. His duties there included overseeing the distribution of MGM's films and television programs to television and digital media outlets, the production of new television programs and the management of MGM's television channels worldwide.
Prior to his appointment at MGM, Mr. Marenzi founded Marenzi & Associates in 2004. Some of Marenzi's clients then included Lucasfilm Ltd, IMAX Corporation, Sinclair Broadcast Group, ProSieben/Sat1 Germany, TV 4 Sweden, TV 2 Norway, TV 2 Denmark, TeleFilm Argentina and Amedia Russia.
Previously, Mr. Marenzi was President of International Television for Paramount Pictures for seven years. During his tenure with Paramount, Mr. Marenzi generated several billion dollars in license fee revenue for Paramount feature films, TV programming and formats with TV broadcasters and cable channels outside the U.S. He also oversaw Paramount's TV co-production/co-financing operations that yielded USA Network's hits, The Dead Zone and The 4400.
Between 1992 and 1997, Mr. Marenzi recorded his first tour of duty at MGM as President of the MGM Telecommunications Group, where he was responsible for all of MGM's international television and worldwide pay television business activities. Before MGM, Mr. Marenzi was President of the UIP Pay TV Group based in London for three years. In the early portion of his career, Mr. Marenzi laid a foundation for his experience in television with roles at Skouras Pictures, Inc., The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Warner Home Video, Columbia Pictures, and HBO.
Mr. Marenzi currently serves on the Board of the Hollywood Radio & TV Society (HRTS), and is a past Executive Committee/Board Member of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) and the Executive Committee of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS). He received both his BA and MBA from Stanford University.
Marenzi will act as interim president of Grand Prix Studios with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London, serve on Grand Prix's global leadership team alongside such industry notables as Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and GPE chief counsel Kelly Crabb, Senior Partner at venerable sports and entertainment law firm Sheppard Mullin. More appointments are expected as Grand Prix readies the formal announcement of its professional rugby venture in partnership with USA Rugby in the upcoming weeks.
Founded in 1975, USA Rugby is an official member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB).
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