BBC’s Dominic Coles to Join Discovery Networks Western Europe

LONDON: Dominic Coles, the director of operations for the BBC, has been lined up to become the COO and CFO of Discovery Networks Western Europe in the fall.

In his new role, Coles will report to Dee Forbes, the company's president and managing director of Western Europe, and Doug Baker, the COO and CFO of Discovery Networks International. He will manage the operational and financial leadership of Discovery's Western Europe business, which includes 24 brands in 22 countries/territories. He is taking the place of Yitz Shmulewitz, who will become the executive VP and COO of Eurosport after the completion of Discovery's acquisition of a 51 percent stake in the European sports broadcaster.

Prior to overseeing BBC's business operations, Coles was the COO of BBC Journalism. Before that, he spent seven years serving as the COO and CFO of BBC Sport. Earlier in his career, he held a number of positions at accounting and consultancy firm Deloitte.

Forbes remarked: "Dominic is a terrific business leader with strong expertise in the broadcast sector. The sports experience he obtained managing the BBC's London 2012's Olympic activities will also be invaluable to us as we align Eurosport's assets with our own.

"The Western Europe business is on a big growth trajectory and we have major ambitions over the coming months and years. Dominic has a strong background in managing complex networks and business operations and I really look forward to welcoming him to Discovery and working closely with him to fulfill our plans."

Coles added: "After 17 memorable years, I will be leaving the BBC to join Discovery in October. I have been lucky to have worked with some truly inspirational leaders during my time at the BBC and to have helped lead talented teams. However, the opportunity to join Discovery at such an exciting time in their history was simply too good to ignore and I'm looking forward to working with Dee Forbes and the Discovery Western Europe team to help continue their remarkable growth of recent years."