BBC Worldwide Channels Ups Programming Exec

LONDON: BBC Worldwide Channels has upped John Taite to VP of programming for EMEA, along with creating three new heads of scheduling roles in the region.

Taite, formerly the director of programming, has overseen the creation and success of 12 fully localized channels across EMEA since joining the company in September 2007, as well as the recently relaunched pan-regional channel BBC Entertainment. He joined BBC Worldwide Channels from MTV Networks UK and Ireland, where he served as director of scheduling and acquisitions. In his new role, Taite will have editorial control for all BBC-branded channels across EMEA, leading an expanded team of schedulers, media planners and presentation planners. He will continue to report to Dean Possenniskie, BBC Worldwide Channels’ senior VP and general manager for EMEA, and David Weiland, the senior VP of programming and TV channels.

In addition to Taite’s promotion, BBC Worldwide Channels is also expanding its EMEA programming team with the creation of three new heads of scheduling roles for Poland, Africa and the Nordic region. The appointments will be made in the coming months.

Possenniskie commented, “John continues to demonstrate a phenomenal understanding of the BBC brand, our content and our audiences which translates time and again into high audience retention and growth, and great feedback from viewers. It was important that the business followed the period of rapid channel launches in the past years with a strong programming strategy, and John and his team have executed that superbly.”

Taite said of his promotion: “One of the most exciting things about working for BBC Worldwide is building synergy with our other business divisions and territories. I’m looking forward to growing our channels business with more channel launches and more cross-divisional campaigns that harness the power of our growing network, our fantastic content and our phenomenal brand.”