Wonder Women of New York 2023: Rori Peters

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by Jacob Solomon Mar 13, 2023 News
Wonder Women of New York 2023: Rori Peters

Rori Peters has been a major player in content distribution for 30 years, but she had a previous career before television.

Peters studied economics in college and worked in banking for a decade before becoming the senior VP of content distribution and sales at TV One. Most of Peters' clients were in radio and broadcast, but she worked on media mergers and acquisitions even then. Peters was offered a spot inside when the media division was folded.

Peters credits Emmis Communications founder and CEO Jeff Smulyan with encouraging her to explore this "new and interesting" thing called cable that she couldn't see herself doing. He said, 'You give me ideas and keep me from making mistakes and you're great at building relationships and they'll need people like you.'

Making Connections

Peters was introduced to his cable friends by Smulyan. She immediately met all of the cable operators and the content acquisition players. People thought she'd been in cable forever in the first six months.

Peters is a friend of Rice's for 25 years.

Rice said that Rori scored off the charts onlikability. There is a saying that says she knows no strangers. That makes sense to her. She will return to the bathroom with three new friends. She continues to build and keep relationships.

After learning from the distribution team at Court TV, Peters moved on to boost growth at other networks. Rice said Peters has helped companies in growth mode because distribution partners are trying to cut budgets and increase margins, goals that don't always sync with a network's ambitions.

I don’t waste people’s time … I also start with solutions as opposed to, ‘You’ve gotta do this’ or just wining and dining boondoggles, which I never had much patience for.”

— Rori Peters

Rice said that she understands business models because of her finance background.

Peters said that he doesn't waste time. I understood the business and was able to speak in larger numbers. I start with solutions instead of just wining and dining boondoggles, which I never had patience for. I'm not going to give up. I know I can change someone's mind.

Peters was asked to join TV One for a couple of years. Peters, who is still there a decade later as a key member of the executive leadership team, said that the company was still trying to get distribution with a lot of companies he had done deals with. She negotiates the carriage of the networks and their programming on all video platforms.

In a recent interview with The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger, he talked about trusting his own instincts so much that he had become less interested in his team's ideas. She wondered if she was doing that, because nobody has all the answers.

Committed to Mentoring

She wants future generations of women to be well cared for. She was chair of the Women in Cable Telecommunications (now The WICT Network) from 2002 to 2003 and helped implement the PAR Initiative, a comprehensive advocacy program that helps companies improve diversity metrics for women and minorities.

Peters said she focused more on furthering the cause for women because she saw gender issues as the bigger obstacle in building relationships. Progress for women in the field has stopped recently.

I spend a lot of time responding to women who reach out on social networking sites. It's critical for the future.

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