NEW YORK, NY, June 8, 2005 — Rainbow Media announced today the appointment of Theano Apostolou as the Vice President of Public Relations for its national networks AMC and WE: Women’s Entertainment. Apostolou previously served as Vice President of Media Relations for the Company’s music network, Fuse. She will report to Ellen Kroner, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing for Rainbow Media. This announcement comes on the heels of Apostolou’s first major effort, “WE’s $50K Cake Dash,” which took place in NYC’s Times Square on June 7 to promote WE’s original series “Bridezillas.” Twenty brides-to-be took the plunge into New York City’s largest wedding cake ever for a chance to win $50,000 toward their dream wedding. The event generated local and national press, including a live segment on Good Morning America.
“Theano joins the team at an exciting time, as both AMC and WE ramp up their original programming and experience record ratings growth. She embodies the right mix of experience, strategy and creativity to amplify the voices of these powerful brands,” said Kroner. “Her track record of success at Fuse demonstrates her innate ability to identify resonant messages and generate off-the-TV-page, brand-defining buzz.”
Apostolou will work closely with both networks’ executive teams to develop, define and translate the brand and programming visions. She will manage the consumer publicity staffs and talent relations at both networks. At Fuse, Apostolou developed strategic media, marketing and programming partnerships that generated tremendous visibility for the newly launched music network. In 2004, she helped launch one of the most unexpected music careers by granting “American Idol” hopeful William Hung a recording and music video contract, and helped develop high-profile marketing and programming partnerships for the network with Maxim magazine and “Access Hollywood” among others.
Prior to her post at Fuse, Apolstolou served as Vice President at The MWW Group where she handled media relations strategies for blue-chip lifestyle and entertainment clients, including Hard Rock Cafe International. Earlier in her career, Apostolou served as an Account Supervisor at Dan Klores Communications where she worked with many high-profile clients and campaigns, including: hip-hop impresario and entrepreneur Sean “P. Diddy” Combs; Grammy winning artist Lil’ Kim; designer Kate Spade; M.A.C Cosmetics and Ian Schrager’s empire of luxury boutique hotels.
Before joining DKC, Apostolou worked in Ketchum’s consumer brand division, where she managed Maxwell House’s corporate philanthropy initiative to build 100 homes in 100 weeks with Habitat for Humanity. She is a winner of the PR industry’s Silver Anvil award for her work on behalf of Maxwell House and a CIPRA for McDonald’s.
Apostolou studied Art History at Rutgers College and Business Administration at the American University in Athens, Greece, where she earned a Bachelors degree. She currently resides in New York City.
About Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
A leader in sports, news and entertainment programming, Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation. Rainbow owns and manages national networks: AMC, Fuse, IFC (The Independent Film Channel) and WE: Women’s Entertainment, as well as on-demand services including Mag Rack and sportskool. Rainbow’s other businesses include its regional programming services — MetroChannels, News 12 Networks and Rainbow Sports Networks – in addition to the Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation and Rainbow Network Communications.