Sony Executive Joins ITV

LONDON, January 9: ITV has
appointed Peter Iacono, previously with Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, as
president and managing director of ITV Worldwide, the British commercial
broadcaster’s international sales, distribution,
merchandising, publishing and licensing arm.

ITV Worldwide is part of
ITV’s Global Content division, led by Dawn Airey as managing director. In his
new role, Iacono will be responsible for overseeing
the growth of ITV Worldwide, which includes Granada International and Granada
Ventures. He will work closely with the respective heads of each business to
seek ways to create full 360-degree value for content from ITV Productions and
to continue to maintain and build strong relationships with key broadcasters
and producers around the world.

Prior to his new
appointment, Iacono was the acting president of international features at Sony
Pictures Motion Picture Group. Prior to that he headed up distribution at Sony
Pictures Television International. His appointment follows the announcement of
Paul Buccieri as president and CEO of Granada America last month, replacing
David Gyngell, who returned to Australia earlier this year to become chief
executive of the Nine Network.

Airey commented: “We’re
delighted to be appointing someone of Peter’s calibre to this role. ITV has a
great track record in selling formats and programming into other territories,
whether it’s Dancing on Ice in
Russia, Saturday Night Takeaway
in China or the hundreds of millions of people who have seen Prime Suspect worldwide. There is a real demand for U.K. content
at the moment and this role will be critical in ensuring that we exploit
maximum value in global markets from our programs, formats, licenses and
merchandising.”

—By Irene Lew