Marc Buhaj

World Screen Weekly, April 12,
2007

Senior VP of Programming

Jetix Europe

Just a few days into his new role
as the senior VP of programming at Jetix Europe, Marc Buhaj already has a few
ideas for how he plans to keep the network’s viewers interested, and topping
that list is a fairly simple strategy: “Making viewers smile,” he says.

It’s a philosophy that Buhaj is
very comfortable with, given his long career in children’s television. Studying
arts and law in university in Australia—“a double degree that would make
my family happy!” Buhaj quips—he was offered a job as a kids’ TV presenter.
Soon, however, Buhaj became enamored with what happens behind the camera. “I
moved into production and that was what appealed to me,” he says. “Then, in the
mid-90s, I started thinking, who are these programmers? They can cut shows and
introduce shows. So I just started studying a lot of American programmers and
there were some senior Australian programmers I also learned from.”

Following a stint at Seven Network
Australia, Buhaj joined Turner Broadcasting System’s Sydney office in March
2001, before being promoted to executive director of programming and
acquisitions at Turner Entertainment Networks Asia in Hong Kong, working with
such diverse markets as India, China and Taiwan. In 2004, Buhaj moved to the
U.S. to become VP of programming and scheduling at Cartoon Network and
Boomerang. Earlier this year, Jetix Europe tapped him to succeed Michael Lekes
as its senior VP of programming, where he oversees production, development,
acquisitions, scheduling, on-air promotions, multimedia programming and
administration at the pan-regional broadcaster. “I’ve been very lucky,” Buhaj
notes. “I’ve been able to work in a bunch of different markets.”

Buhaj expects that experience to
arm him with the skills to negotiate the different demands of Jetix Europe’s
various channels and markets—14 networks, to be exact, reaching 58
countries and more than 46 million homes across Europe and the Middle East in
18 different languages. “We're going to need to source some good talent, taking
into consideration all the nuances of our channels across Europe. Every channel
is different—the competitive set and the local idiosyncrasies in the
market.”

Buhaj is particularly excited to
take on the challenges of the British market, which has become one of the most
competitive kids’ arenas in Europe. “I’m looking forward to waking up every
morning with a little bit of fear in my step and seeing if we can make
something the audience will like, and I know they’ll tell us if we don’t. For a
programmer, you learn the most when the audience tells you what you’re not
doing right.”

In his first MIPTV with his new
employer, Buhaj will be on the hunt for “good comedy—comedy has been the
holy grail for years, it always will be. We’ll be keeping an eye on action
adventure. There are also some other genres to attack—live action,
reality, game shows.”

At the heart of all that new
content will be multiplatform elements. “We have to be doing it. Our audience
expects television to be anywhere and everywhere at any time. It’s entrenched
throughout our whole process, whether we’re buying [a show] or developing [it
ourselves.] We’ve got to create some really compelling content and we need to
do that by sourcing it in an aggressive and meticulous way.”

—By Mansha Daswani