US entertainment company STARZ had hired Jim Kapenstein as its chief legal and strategy officer, replacing general counsel Audrey Lee who retired in May.
Kapenstein joins from The Walt Disney Company, where he was deputy GC. He brings extensive public company experience across M&A, joint ventures, antitrust, corporate finance, social responsibility and corporate structuring.
At STARZ, he will help develop and lead on business and legal affairs strategy, including distribution, content acquisition, production, litigation, employment and compliance, as well as advising on transactional matters and corporate governance. He will report directly to STARZ president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch.
Santa Monica-based STARZ is a US pay TV and streaming platform focused on providing movies and TV series for women and underrepresented audiences.
Hirsch said: “Few executives bring the breadth of experience Jim does with his involvement in some of the largest transactions in media history. His insight into guiding organisations through periods of transformation will be invaluable to us as we enter into our next phase of growth.”
Kapenstein arrives after almost three decades at Disney, joining in 1998 as a counsel. He later became associate GC in 2011 and deputy GC in 2020.
Prior to Disney, he worked in private practice at Alston & Bird and Arent Fox.
Kapenstein said: “STARZ has built an exceptional, profitable digital streaming business. I am looking forward to helping Jeff and his team shape the next stage of its growth and drive strategic direction through disciplined expansion, capitalising on existing market opportunities and maintaining a best-in-class legal and corporate governance framework.”
Lee, meanwhile, left STARZ after eight and a half years last month. She was previously deputy GC at Lionsgate Entertainment, senior vice president for legal affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment and associate GC at Idealab. She started her career in private practice at Latham & Watkins.
In January last year, Disney+ hired former Netflix lawyer Deepti Burton as vice president for legal and business affairs in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
And in July 2024, US streaming platform Roku hired Disney lawyer Louise Pentland as GC, before Pentland moved to Adobe in May last year as CLO.
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