Viasat hires VP to accelerate sourcing & development of original TV content
Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ.) (‘MTG’ or ‘the Group’), the international entertainment group, today announced that Viasat Broadcasting, which comprises MTG’s television broadcasting operations, has hired Merrily Ross as Vice President of Formats. Merrily joined Viasat Broadcasting in London on 7 May to focus on accelerating the sourcing of even more UK and international programme ideas for the Viasat portfolio of 32 free-TV channels in 10 countries.
Merrily will report to Daniela Neumann, Vice President of Content and Development, who joined the company in 2011 from ITV. Daniela has been leading Viasat’s initiatives to work even more closely with UK and international content producers, in order to identify and commission the best and latest ideas for Viasat’s free-TV entertainment channels.
Daniela Neumann commented: “We are stepping up our search for more new programme ideas for our channels, by extending our relationships and working even closer with both established and new UK and international content producers. Our aim is to source even more original formats and entertainment shows that are still at the development stage. The main free-TV channels in each country are broad based entertainment channels, and we are keen to licence new formats and open a number of new markets to content from both UK and international producers. We are also investing in co-financing strong scripted series that can work across our markets.”
“We are thrilled that Merrily is joining our experienced and growing team. She brings an in-depth knowledge of formats, genres and international production, as well as a passion for great shows and great programming. Merrily has a keen editorial eye for high quality and high rating entertainment content, and will be instrumental in our drive to find even more terrific ideas for our channels.”
Merrily Ross joins Viasat Broadcasting from ITV Studios Global where she was most recently VP of Format Sales, having previously worked there for four years with international format production. Prior to this Merrily held several producer jobs with UK free-TV broadcasters like ITV, BBC and Five over a 10 year period.
MTG operates 32 free-TV channels in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Ghana. The MTG free-TV media house is the largest or second largest commercial TV broadcaster in most of these countries. MTG also operates MTG Studios, which produces and distributes a wide range of content through Strix Television, Paprika Latino and Modern Africa Productions (MAP). Strix has long been a leading player in Northern and Western Europe, while Paprika is also well established in Central and Eastern Europe and MAP is based in Accra (Ghana) and serves the African market.
Programming ideas should be submitted to daniela.neumann@viasat.co.uk and merrily.ross@viasat.co.uk.
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For further information contact:
Per Lorentz
m: +46 (0) 73 699 27 09
e: press@mtg.se
Nils Gjerstad
m: +44 (0) 7834 215 306
e: press@mtg.se
Modern Times Group (MTG) is an international entertainment broadcasting group with operations that span four continents and include free-TV, pay-TV, radio and content production businesses. MTG’s Viasat Broadcasting operates free-TV and pay-TV channels, which are available on Viasat’s own satellite platforms and third party networks, and also distributes TV content over the internet. MTG is also the largest shareholder in CTC Media, which is Russia’s leading independent television broadcaster. Please visit www.mtg.se for more information.
Modern Times Group is a growth company and generated net sales of SEK 13.3 billion in 2012. MTG’s Class A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm’s Large Cap index under the symbols ‘MTGA’ and ‘MTGB’.