Valerie Immele

VP, Strategy & Aquisitions, Turner Sports

Immele helps Turner Sports grow and expand its linear and digital portfolio. She does this by overseeing brand development, leading acquisitions of non-live sports programming, such as documentaries, and working with business development teams to determine strategic partnership and vendor relationships for Turner’s digital business. Immele contributed to Turner’s new NBA media rights agreement, which includes the addition of 12 live regular season games airing on TNT each year. As a viewer, Immele enjoys Lisa Ling’s series “This is Life.” She says it’s “a great example of someone being their authentic self.”

What advice would you give your 13-year-old self? 

Live empathetically and take advantage of every opportunity to have new life experiences.

Which current programming best reflects the kind of women’s roles you like to see and why? 

Lisa Ling’s “This is Life” is a great example of someone being their authentic self, helping tell meaningful stories we wouldn’t otherwise hear and offering us all great perspective on life.

What’s been the biggest story in cable this year? 

Blurring the lines between media and technology. Strategic investments in technology has replaced buying networks. Building and supporting new platforms that will reach young viewers with evolving content consumption habits is the new focus.