Discovery Adds to London Team

LONDON: Helen Fox Gladwell is joining Discovery’s team in London as VP of business affairs and programming legal, with responsibility for the acquisitions group across the U.K. and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Fox Gladwell reports into Barbara Bellini, the senior VP of business affairs and programming legal. Bellini’s team is responsible for all programming agreements and negotiations across Discovery Networks International in respect of program acquisitions and third-party programming deals, including co-productions and presale agreements. Fox Gladwell will work closely with Bellini on increasing third-party content supply deals for the U.K. business, which has expanded its channel reach to 12 pay-TV brands. She will also manage commercial relationships with external suppliers, negotiate and advise on terms of trade and produce all content agreements for third-party programming deals. Previously, Fox Gladwell was at ITV working as the director of business and legal affairs within ITV Global Entertainment. Prior to ITV, Fox Gladwell was the head of business and legal affairs for the BBC program acquisitions unit.

Daniel Whittington is also joining Bellini’s team to take up a new role as director of business affairs and programming legal. Whittington will be based in Singapore as part of the Discovery Networks Asia team.

Bellini said: “I am delighted that Helen is joining our business affairs team; she has strong business credentials, extensive industry contacts and an in-depth knowledge of both the U.K. and international TV business markets.

Bellini added: "Whilst we are a content company that produces a significant amount of original programming, our diversified portfolio—we now have channels across three genres; factual, lifestyle and entertainment means that we are in the market for good third-party content, including scripted drama for our entertainment channel DMAX. We also continue to be interested in putting money into the right co-productions and pre sales, we have worked very successfully recently in the U.K. with Channel Four and Five amongst others. The expansion of our team to include Helen gives us the resources to expand the number of third-party programming deals that we undertake."

Fox Gladwell commented: "I am excited about joining a truly international company and looking forward to the challenge of managing a new team."