Peter Rice (born 1966) is a British producer and media executive. He is the former chairman of

Disney General Entertainment Content Disney General Entertainment Content (DGEC), formerly ABC Group, Disney–ABC Television Group and the second incarnation of Walt Disney Television, is a division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that ove ...

for

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and former president of

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

, where he worked from 1989 to 2019.

Early life

Rice was born in the United Kingdom in 1966 and raised in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. He earned a degree from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

in 1989.

Career

Fox

Rice began his career at

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

in 1989, working for Tom Sherak, then head of U.S. distribution and marketing for Fox Filmed Entertainment. In 2000, Rice became President of

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

, beginning in 2000. From 2007 to 2008, he simultaneously oversaw Fox Atomic, which created comedy and genre films, including '' Turistas'' and ''

28 Weeks Later ''28 Weeks Later'' is a 2007 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rowan Joffé, Enrique López Lavigne and Jesus Olmo. It serves as a standalone sequel to '' 28 Days Later'' (20 ...

''. Fox Atomic was closed in 2009, after Rice moved to Fox's television business. Rice became chairman and CEO of Fox Networks Group in 2012, supervising

Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...

20th Century Fox Television 20th Television, Inc. (formerly known as TCF Television Productions, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Television and 20th Century Fox Television) is the television studio arm of 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Di ...

FX Networks FX Networks, LLC, commonly known as FX Networks, is an American media company built around FX, FXX, and FX Movie Channel, plus their associated production company, FX Productions, and is a subsidiary of Disney General Entertainment Content, ...

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

(encompassing Fox’s national sports channels, FS1 and FS2 and its 22 regional sports networks) and National Geographic Partners (which includes the

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

channels and brands). Rice was appointed president of

in 2017. Rice continued to serve as chairman and CEO of

Fox Networks Group Fox Networks Group (FNG), formerly known as Fox International Channels (FIC), was the television broadcaster, television networks division of News Corporation and later 21st Century Fox that operated from 1993 to 2021. It oversaw the production, ...

, which included all of Fox’s TV assets, with the exception of Fox News, which was run separately. He was also the chairman of the board of

National Geographic Partners National Geographic Partners, LLC is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns 73% of the company) and the namesake non-profit scientific organization National Geographic Society (which owns 27%). The company oversees all comm ...

and Fox's lead executive on the board of directors for

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

Disney

Rice joined

in 2017 following its purchase of many of the assets of 21st Century Fox. Upon joining, Rice became the chairman of Walt Disney Television (all of Disney's non-sports television businesses). In this role, Rice oversaw ABC Entertainment,

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

ABC Owned Television Stations ABC Owned Television Stations is a sub-division of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that oversees the owned-and-operated stations of the American Broadcastin ...

Disney Branded Television Disney Branded Television is a unit of Disney General Entertainment Content which oversees development, production and acquisition of content geared towards children, teenagers and families for Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Jr. and Disney XD. ...

Disney Television Studios Disney Television Studios is the television studios arm of the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company established on May 15, 2019 to succeed Walt Disney Television, the first and Disney General Entertainment Content#Walt Disney ...

, Freeform, FX,

Originals,

, and

Onyx Collective Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects un ...

. As chairman of Walt Disney Television, Rice oversaw the production of over 300 shows and 4,000 hours of television per year across Disney’s family of networks and streaming platforms

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and

. Disney earned 147

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

nominations in 2022 and 146 in 2021. While with Disney, Rice served as chairman of the board of

A&E Networks A&E Television Networks, LLC, doing business as A+E Global Media (formerly A+E Networks) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned and operated as a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company th ...

and continued to serve as chairman of the board of

. On 9 June 2022, Rice was fired from The Walt Disney Company.

A24

On 1 June 2023, Rice made a nonexclusive deal with the independent entertainment company A24.

Personal life

Rice lives in Los Angeles with his family. He has two children. He serves on the board of directors of Southern California Public Radio and the board of governors of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rice, Peter 1966 births Living people British television executives Disney executives American Broadcasting Company executives Presidents of the American Broadcasting Company Alumni of the University of Nottingham