Greg Ricca

As President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Networks International, Greg Ricca oversees the strategic development and daily operations of Discovery’s international division, which distributes 18 media brands to 946 million subscribers in more than 170 countries across Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Key brands include Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, each in more than 200 million homes outside the United States.

Ricca’s extensive media industry background includes two decades at Viacom, where he transformed the fledgling MTV International into a thriving multi-billion-dollar business. Under his leadership, revenue tripled and the number of channels climbed from 10 to 65, while costs remained under control and earnings increased.

Ricca was Chief Operating Officer of MTV Networks International from 1996 to 2003, as well as Executive Vice President of MTV Networks. He decentralized and localized MTV’s worldwide organization, managed six joint venture channels and two licensee channels, and was responsible for program sales, licensing and merchandising. He played a key role in forming and executing MTV’s global expansion strategies through joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and channel licensing.

Immediately before joining number-one nonfiction media company Discovery in 2007, Ricca operated his own consulting firm.

Earlier in his Viacom career that began in 1982, Ricca served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Viacom Networks/MTV Networks, and as Associate General Counsel for Viacom International.

Ricca earned a J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of Law and a B.A. from George Washington University.