Senior Executives Named at Banijay Finland

COPENHAGEN/HELSINKI: Following the Banijay-Zodiak merger, three executives have been named to senior positions at Banijay Finland, under which the combined non-scripted activities will be joined going forward.

Tatu Ferchen has been appointed as the CEO and executive producer, while Martti Sivonen is taking on the role of VP and executive producer. Alex Laszlo has been named CCO and executive producer.

Ferchen and Laszlo have most recently worked at Endemol Shine Finland as creative directors and executive producers. They teamed on projects such as Married at First Sight, MasterChef, Gogglebox and The Biggest Loser, among others. Sivonen as worked at Banijay Finland for the past three years as CCO and executive producer on shows such as The Voice of Finland and Temptation Island.

The combined Banijay Zodiak non-scripted activities will come under the Banijay Finland brand, while scripted activities will be led separately by Zodiak Finland under the continued leadership of Teea Hyytiä, who has been running the brand for the past 15 years. Banijay Zodiak Finland’s combined businesses are now among the top three players in the Finnish market.

The merger of the non-scripted activities will take effect on May 1, when Ferchen and Laszlo will begin working in the Zodiak Finland premises together with the Banijay Finland team. Further appointments and the final organizational layout at the two companies are expected to be announced shortly.

Jacob Houlind, Banijay Zodiak Nordic Group’s CEO, commented, “We are happy to be able to announce a powerful trio to lead all our non-scripted activities. To secure the highest level of creativity and fulfill the potential within both non-scripted as well as scripted content we have decided to split the activities in two. We are just as ambitious on both sides of the business and Teea is right now looking to recruit new people to join her team in the journey going forward in the scripted space. In my mind Tatu, Martti and Alex are the leading talents of Finnish entertainment television. They all know the business inside out and have experience as hands-on producers on both small as well as some of the biggest shows of the nation.”

Ferchen, Banijay Finland’s CEO, said, “Our joint entertainment activities will enable us to work on some of the biggest and most-loved entertainment shows on television at the moment, but also to offer a wide range of fresh new shows from the numerous catalogues now under one roof. The new team has many years of experience in not only producing hit shows but also developing new ideas tailor made for our clients. I’m thrilled to be a part of this fantastic new team, both locally as well as globally.”

Sivonen, Banijay Finland’s VP and executive producer, added, “The addition of these two talented and much respected professionals to our new combined company will ensure the continuing success of our productions, from the big ones to the small and all between. We have close personal relations with all the clients as well as with the talent in front [of] and behind the camera. And it doesn’t hurt that the three of us have been close friends for years.”

Laszlo, Banijay Finland’s CCO and executive producer, remarked, “Our joint creative output will enable us to build on a strong, innovative and inspiring organization that can react very quickly to the needs of our clients. I am extremely excited and can’t wait to get my hands on the amazing catalogues as well as to start developing new original content together with some of the most creative people in the field.”