Netflix executive Channing Dungey leaves for new job in latest TV executive shuffle

Less than two years after joining Netflix, Channing Dungey, the high-profile former Disney executive, is leaving the streamer to pursue another job opportunity.

It’s the latest sign of a game of musical chairs that is playing out as major media companies and streamers compete for top TV talent in a rapidly changing and uncertain market.

Dungey’s exit, which was first reported by Deadline, comes just a month after a significant shakeup. Netflix’s original television content head, Cindy Holland, left the company, and Bela Bajaria, who previously oversaw local-language originals, was promoted to a larger role overseeing Netflix’s global television content business.

“[Dungey is] a terrific executive who’s always carved her own path, and although we will miss her, we wish her all the best for the future,” said Bajaria, Netflix’s vice president of global TV, in a statement. Holland was Dungey’s boss at Netflix, and Dungey reported to Bajaria after Holland left.

Dungey could not be reached for comment.

At Netflix, Dungey had a major role in Netflix’s content push, overseeing deals with producers including Shonda Rhimes, Jenji Kohan and Kenya Barris.

Before joining Netflix, Dungey was president of ABC Entertainment, where she oversaw such shows as “The Good Doctor” and the revival of “American Idol.” She was the first Black executive to run one of the four major broadcast networks. Dungey ran ABC Entertainment from 2016 to 2018. She had been a Walt Disney Co. executive for more than a decade, helping to develop such ABC hits as “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder.”

As ABC’s president, Dungey made waves in 2018 when she canceled the network’s reboot of “Roseanne.” Dungey axed the sitcom after its star and namesake Roseanne Barr wrote a racist tweet about former President Obama official Valerie Jarrett.

Some have speculated that Dungey could be up for a role at Warner Bros. Television.

Just days ago, Warner Bros. Television President Susan Rovner started a big new job at NBCUniversal as its chairman of entertainment content for the Comcast Corp.-owned company’s television and streaming division. The move creates a major vacancy at Burbank-based Warner Bros., whose parent company WarnerMedia is in the midst of a widespread restructuring under the AT&T-owned media titan’s Chief Executive Jason Kilar.

Warner Bros. declined to comment.

Dungey is the second executive to leave Netflix in recent weeks. Holland, an 18-year Netflix executive, had led Netflix’s English-language TV team as vice president of original content. There has also been widespread speculation about Holland’s next job, including the possibility she might take on a senior role in Apple’s TV streaming business.

A source close to Apple said the company has not engaged with Holland about a role there.

Netflix can be a tough place to work. The company has a “culture of candor” in which staffers offer frank assessments of the performances of their peers and bosses. One of the company’s sayings is “adequate performance gets a generous severance package,” which Netflix believes helps it quickly innovate and keep its best performers.