Veteran children’s entertainment exec Margaret Loesch will be taking the top spot at Hasbro/Discovery’s yet-to-be-named JV multiplatform kids channel as CEO.

Loesch has close to four decades of experience in the business and has had a hand in the development and production of countless kids hits including Smurfs, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, Animaniacs, Transformers and the award-winning series Bear in the Big Blue House. Not to mention, she served as the founding president of Fox Kids and helped the network expand into Latin America, the UK and Australia.

The new net, announced in April by Hasbro and Discovery, is set to launch in fall 2010 and will have an initial reach of more than 60 million TV households in the US. Loesch, meanwhile, will get to work on channel planning on August 17, working out of L.A.