Disney Makes New Round of Appointments for EMEA Team

LONDON, February 21: Disney Channels Worldwide has announced
six key executive appointments to support its expansion plans in Europe, and
has also named Simon Amselem to the position of senior VP of channel distribution for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Michael Cairns has been
named the VP and general manager of Disney Channels UK and Ireland. Cairns
joined Disney Channel Italy in 1997 and since 2004 was managing director and VP
of Disney Channel Australia and New Zealand. He will relocate from Sydney to
London in March. The company announced last month that his predecessor, Robert
Gilby, has been named senior VP and managing director of Disney-ABC
International Television, Asia-Pacific.

Lars Wagner joins the
company in the new role of VP and general manager of Disney Channel Germany,
Switzerland and Austria. Wagner previously served as the channel director of
Discovery Channels Germany since January 2005.

Hélène Etzi has been
promoted to VP and general manager of Disney Channels France from her previous
position as Disney Channel’s marketing director. She will now be responsible
for managing Disney’s portfolio of channels in the French market.

Meanwhile, Casper Bjorner
has been elevated to VP and general manager of Disney Channels Scandinavia and
Emerging Markets. He was most recently the VP of marketing and deputy managing
director of Disney Channels UK, Scandinavia and Emerging Markets. In his new
role, he will manage Disney Channels in Scandinavia, Poland, Middle East and
South Africa.

Nicoletta Gelli is taking
on the new role of VP of brand marketing at Disney Channels EMEA; and Anna Hill
has been upped to executive director of marketing at Disney Channels EMEA.

All
six executives will report to John Hardie, the executive VP and managing
director of Disney Channels EMEA.

Meanwhile,
Simon Amselem, currently the senior VP and managing director at
Disney Channel France, has been named to the position of senior VP of channel distribution for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Amselem’s
appointment follow Disney’s announcement earlier this week that it would integrate its channel and program distribution teams in EMEA under a new group to be led by Tom Toumazis, the executive
VP and managing director of DAIT for EMEA and Canada.

The new structure will
take effect in April. Sales teams from Disney Channel, ESPN and DAIT will form
one group, with three sub-teams: Channel Distribution, Program Distribution and
New Media.

Amselem will be
based in London and will take up his new role April 1. In
his new position, reporting to Toumazis, Amselem will oversee the distribution
for Disney’s channel brands in the region, including Disney Channel and ESPN. He will lead the integrated channel distribution team to maximize the revenue of
Disney’s channels in the region, including channel brands such as Disney
Channel, Disney Cinemagic, Playhouse Disney, Toon Disney, ESPN International,
ESPN Classic, NASN, as well as ESPN’s program sales team. He will drive the deal negotiations and distribution strategy for
these channels, and be ultimately responsible for leading the company’s
relationships with distribution platforms in the region. Amselem’s channel
distribution responsibilities will span across platforms and technologies,
including digital terrestrial, cable, satellite, xDSL, fiber to the home,
Internet, VOD/SVOD and mobile.

Amselem has served as the senior VP and managing
director at Disney Channel France
since 2005, leading the team in charge of operating, marketing and distributing the
French-language Disney-branded channels. He led deal negotiations for these
services and managed relationships with pay-TV platforms in all French speaking
territories.

Prior to this, he was the senior VP and managing director for Branded
Television Iberia from 1997 until 2004. In this capacity, he was responsible
for the launch of Disney Channel Spain in 1997, the launches of Playhouse
Disney and Toon Disney in Spain in 2001, and Disney Channel in Portugal in this
same year.

—By
Irene Lew