Darren Melameth has been promoted to vice president of program planning and scheduling for both Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, reporting to senior vice president of acquisitions and scheduling Michelle Vicary. Melameth was previously director of programming for the networks.

Bravo Media has promoted Ellen Stone to senior vice president of marketing, continuing to report to executive vice president and general manager Frances Berwick. Stone had been vice president of consumer marketing.

Simon Brereton has been named director of On Deck products at Dada Entertainment, which offers direct-to-consumer services focused mainly on music. Brereton was previously head of Musiwave Americas at Microsoft.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has named Vanessa Holden vice president and editor of Martha Stewart Weddings, putting her in charge of the title’s editorial direction. Holden previously ran her own consulting firm and before that was creative director at Real Simple.

Nina Myers has been named fashion director at Niche Media, which publishes Gotham magazine and a handful of other titles. Myers had been associate market editor at Esquire.

New Track Media, a magazine publisher, has named Dennis O’Brien vice president of consumer marketing, putting him in charge of subscription and single-copy sales. O’Brien joins from The Taunton Press, where he was vice president of circulation.

Aparna Pande has joined Disney Publishing Worldwide as vice president and general manager of U.S. consumer magazines, reporting to president R. Russell Hampton, Jr. Pande had been general manager of the parenthood group at Meredith Publishing.

Actor Lawrence Fishburne has officially joined the cast of CBS’s “CSI,” taking over for the departing William Petersen beginning with the upcoming season’s ninth episode. Fishburne, who’d been rumored to be the network’s top choice, will play a college professor working to understand criminal behavior who later joins the Las Vegas Crime Lab.

NBC has brought in Noah Kotch as a senior producer for the “Today” show, focusing on the 7 a.m. hour. Kotch was most recently a senior producer in the ABC News digital media group.

Former professional wrestler and Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is in talks with Twentieth Television to host a half-hour court show that would premiere next year, according to a report in TV Week. Neither Ventura nor Twentieth have commented on the potential series.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has promoted Laurie Hertzel to books editor, replacing the departed Sarah T. Williams. Hertzel has been with the newspaper since 1996 in a variety of roles.

Thomas Swick, travel editor and columnist at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, has left his position. He’ll be replaced in the interim by lifestyle editor Gretchen Day-Bryant.

Television sales company Petry Media Corp. has promoted Howard Strudler to senior vice president and director of sales for Petry Television, working out of the company’s New York office. The company has also made seven other promotions: Debbie Carter to vice president and general manager of Blair Television in Los Angeles; Robert Cain to vice president and sales manager of Blair Television in Philadelphia; Cindy Yantis to vice president and group sales manager at Blair Television in Los Angeles; Brian Cliggett to vice president and group sales manager at Blair Television in New York; Joe Malerba to vice president and group sales manager of Blair Television in New York; Peggy Baldwin to sales manager at Blair Television in Detroit; and Stacie Martin to sales manager at Blair Television in Dallas.