Suzanne Underwald is Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs for Scripps Networks Interactive. Sue is the lead attorney for the company’s Content Distribution and Marketing Group, which manages all of the distribution partnerships for Scripps’ portfolio of lifestyle brands – HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and Great American Country (GAC). In this role, she is a crucial part of the team responsible for negotiating and drafting agreements for distribution of Scripps’ content and services on linear, video on demand, and digital platforms, including the agreements covering the company’s “TV everywhere” offerings.
Sue joined Scripps after more than 17 years with Dow Lohnes, PLLC in Washington DC, where she was a partner in the firm’s Media and Information Technologies practice group. While there, she represented major entertainment and media companies on intellectual property and licensing and distribution matters, with a focus on cable affiliation agreements, digital media distribution contracts, and technology licenses. In addition to being one of the principal outside attorneys for several cable operators in negotiating their network affiliation agreements, Sue represented companies in the formation of strategic cable television and entertainment joint ventures, including acting as the lead intellectual property and content distribution attorney representing Harpo in the creation of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network and Hasbro in its purchase of a 50 percent stake in Discovery Kids Network.
Sue is an active member and past Chapter President of Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) and currently serves as the Chapter Advisor to WICT’s Washington, DC/Baltimore Chapter. She is also a graduate of the WICT Betsy Magness Leadership Institute – Class 25.
Sue earned her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC and her bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, NJ. She lives in suburban Washington, DC with her husband, Carl Peterson.
