BBC Worldwide Shakes Up Western European Team

LONDON: A new team has been put in place by David Weiland, BBC Worldwide's executive VP for Western Europe, to lead the company's businesses in the Benelux, France, Germany, Iberia, Italy and the Nordics.

Gabriele Galassi becomes the head of Benelux, while Isabelle Helle has been tapped as the head of German-speaking territories. Francesca Doria has been appointed director of Italy and Iberia. Richard Hornsby-Smith will be the director of Nordics. In France, two executives have been appointed: Jean-Louis Blot will be the head of production, while Sandra Petkovic will be the head of French-speaking territories excluding production.

Each head becomes responsible for strategy and business development and delivering revenue and profit growth across all businesses in their region, including TV and digital sales, channels, production and format sales, licensing and publishing as well as live events.

Additionally, Jon Farrar has been named the VP of branded services for BBC Worldwide Western Europe. Also reporting to Weiland, Farrar is responsible for all BBC-branded services across Western European territories, overseeing content and brand strategies for channels, blocks and non-linear services as well as developing the global editorial strategy for BBC Worldwide’s channels business.

Weiland commented: “Western Europe is a key market for BBC Worldwide; with a number of established businesses and the exceptional sales growth in the region, it’s vital to create roles that have responsibility across all commercial areas. The combination of this new structure and a senior management team, who are experts in their field and well connected in their territories, will allow our clients, for the first time, to have one point of contact for the BBC brand in their market. With MIPCOM imminent, it will be an ideal opportunity for our partners to meet the new team.”