Starz has promoted Ray Milius to executive vice president of programming and IT operations.

Milius and his team are responsible for the management of broadcast operations; post-production; engineering; transmission; media encoding; information technologies; the respective Starz, Encore, and MoviePlex On Demand And Play services; and implementing technological growth and change.

CED had an extended conversation with Milius, in which he talks about the prospects for 4K TVs, the challenges of modern DRM and metadata, and why the industry ought to be thinking right now about the eventual death of SD – even if it is a few years off.

Prior to joining Starz in 1996, Milius spent 23 years in the television industry, including time with NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates where he worked in all technical areas, including commercial production, editing, directing, and filming televised sporting and live news events.

Milius is a member of several industry organizations, including the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.

“I am very pleased to congratulate Ray on this well-deserved promotion,” said Starz President Glenn Curtis. “Ray’s experience and leadership in operations and broadcast technologies has served Starz well. We look to Ray and his team to continue to innovate during these exciting times in premium pay TV and at Starz. Under Ray’s stewardship, Starz will continue to be a leader in the marketplace and deliver a truly premium experience for our distributors and subscribers.”