Sheri Herman, a cable and digital media pioneer who helped launch E! Entertainment TV, died of heart failure Aug. 6 in Florida. She was 71.
\n\nBorn in Philadelphia, Herman graduated Temple University and started out at the Madison Avenue ad agency AC&R. After working as a commercials producer, she joined The Entertainment Channel and then became director of programming at United Cable, where she negotiated major carriage agreements between numerous cable channels.
\n\nWhen United Cable merged with TCI to become Liberty Media, John Malone became a mentor and she expanded her role to include evaluating new cable networks for funding. Herman helped save the Discovery Channel from imminent bankruptcy by negotiating new output deals and brought in cable TV operators into equity positions in QVC.
\n\nAfter being recruited to join the Los Angeles start-up channel Movietime, which ran film trailers, she worked with Lee Masters to help transform the channel into E! Entertainment Television, where she oversaw brand development, marketing and sponsorships. She left E! in 1992 but returned in the late 1990s to work as Senior V.P. of Content and Business Development.
\n\n“Sheri was a true creative force. She not only could spot great creative talent to engage with…
Original source: https://variety.com/v/tv/