New Appointments at CANAL+ Group

PARIS: There have been a trio of new appointments at CANAL+ Group, including Simon Bathe becoming the executive VP of digital for STUDIOCANAL.

Bathe will work under Rodolphe Buet, the president of international distribution and marketing at STUDIOCANAL. Since 2013, Bathe has served as VP of TV and digital distribution for Latin America at Sony Pictures, which he joined in 2007 as director of digital and pay TV for German-speaking territories. Earlier in his career, he worked for such companies as T-Online and Deutsche Telekom.

Sophie Kopaczynski has become STUDIOCANAL's executive VP of catalogue and brands strategy, also reporting to Buet. She was first hired by CANAL+ Group in 2005 as chief of cabinet of the chairman. From 2006 to 2010, Kopaczynski also served as head of public relations for the group. Between 2010 and 2015, she was STUDIOCANAL's director of communications, trade shows and festivals.

Antoine Banet-Rivet, the director of corporate communications at CANAL+ Group, will now also be head of communications at STUDIOCANAL. He will work under Laurence Gallot, the executive VP of communications and partnerships at CANAL+ Group. Banet-Rivet joined the company in 2000, working in the internal communications department, of which he became director in 2002. He was upped to director of corporate and internal communications in 2005. Since 2011, he has also served as director of communications for the group's all-news channel iTELE.