UKTV Appoints Director of Program Funding

UKTV has appointed Ronan Hand to the newly created role of director of program funding.

Hand joins from ITV Studios, where he has been senior VP of global content, non-scripted and co-productions. In this new post, he will be reporting to Simon Michaelides, chief commercial officer. Hand joins UKTV in May, and his responsibilities will include expanding UKTV’s international sales footprint and maximizing the role of advertiser-funded programming within UKTV’s programming mix.

Michaelides said, “I’m delighted to welcome Ronan to UKTV. He has a glowing reputation, a keen editorial eye and a wealth of experience across multiple genres, all of which make him ideally suited to help us realize our ambitions as an originator of differentiated content. At UKTV we value creativity, collaboration and the ability to challenge the status quo. These are precisely the skills that Ronan has built his reputation on, and we look forward to him putting them into practice at UKTV.”

Hand added, “UKTV has been a company whose work I’ve admired during my time working in the TV industry and when the opportunity arose to join them in this role it felt a great fit. I’m very much looking forward to bringing my energy and passion to their team and helping create more great content for UKTV’s dedicated audiences.”