New CEO at ITV Studios Finland

LONDON: The former head of entertainment at Yellow Film & Television, Pete Paavolainen, has been appointed CEO of ITV Studios Finland.

Paavolainen will head up the business’s ongoing expansion in entertainment and factual-entertainment production, with a focus on exploiting ITV Studios' existing formats in the territory, as well as original development. He will report to ITV Studios Nordic CEO Hans Engholm.

At Yellow, Paavolainen was responsible for entertainment and development. He oversaw Yellow’s own formats, including Comedy Combat and Good or Bad News. Prior to Yellow, Paavolainen worked as head of formats at MTV, Finland’s largest broadcaster, where he was responsible for acquiring formats such as Survivor, Big Brother, Strictly Come Dancing, Hell’s Kitchen and Idol for Finland.

Engholm commented: “Pete is a highly skilled producer with a fantastic background in entertainment development, both from networks and productions companies, as well as a keen eye for adapting international formats for the Finnish market. He’s well placed to guide ITV Studios Finland to its next stage of growth. I look forward to welcoming him to the ITV Studios Nordic team in the New Year.”

Paavolainen added: “I'm very happy—I see this as a dream opportunity for me. I have admired as a buyer ITV Studios' creativity and boldness to think outside the box when it comes to new entertainment ideas. Now I can be part of this inspiring atmosphere and bring great ITV formats to Finland—many of them which have never been aired here before.”