The executive – who most recently served as President of International for ITV Studios – has boarded the media group as President for VIMN UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, replacing James Currell, who stepped down from the same role at the start of June this year after serving 18 years at the company. She joins the business almost two months after Viacom merged with CBS, creating ViacomCBS.
Kyriacou’s new role includes oversight of all media networks and related businesses in 33 European countries, as well as free-to-air (FTA) public service broadcast network Channel 5 in the UK. Based in London, she will report into David Lynn, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VIMN.
The exec has been at ITV Studios (Love Island, Come Dine With Me) since 2010, overseeing the production business, global drama strategy and worldwide distribution arm, ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE).
Kyriacou spearheaded investments in scripted production labels such as Tomorrow Studios and Circle of Confusion (The Walking Dead) in the US, Cattleya (Gomorrah) in Italy, Tetra Media Studios in France and Piv Bernth’s Appletree Productions in Denmark.
She has also helped establish a network of in-house production bases in Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and the US, producing the company’s IP such as Love Island, Come Dine With Me and Talpa’s The Voice around the world, as well as creating original shows for their own markets.
Kyriacou joined ITV Studios from The Walt Disney Company where she was most recently Senior Vice President (SVP) of digital media distribution for EMEA, overseeing the company’s digital media sales and strategy across both channel and programme distribution.
There’s no official start date yet for Kyriacou — who is still working as the president of international for London-based prodco ITV Studios. The exec exits ITV Studios just as it undergoing a major reorganisation of its international distribution and commercial business, which will take effect in January 2020. The reorganisation will see ITV Studios Global Entertainment splitting into three divisions. The Voice and Big Brother creator John de Mol is also leaving the company.
David Lynn commented: “Maria has led the international expansion of ITV’s studios business and her track record of growing international revenues from production, content licensing and distribution at both ITV and Disney means she is ideally equipped to head our operations managed out of the UK. Her experience of acquiring, integrating and managing creative businesses and her deep knowledge of the international television market will add a valuable perspective to our fast evolving UK operations and I’m delighted to welcome her to the team.
“She will take the helm at an exciting time, with the merger to form ViacomCBS set to confirm us as one of the world’s most important content producers and providers and to open up new opportunities to licence our brands, content and IP.”
Maria Kyriacou added: “I am incredibly excited to be joining David and the team. With the strength and breadth of its brands and its extensive reach, VIMN is in a great place to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the dynamism of our industry. I’m looking forward to being part of this exciting future.”
VIMN operates 120 TV networks, reaching 90 million households in 33 territories across the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe. This includes free-to-air network Channel 5 in the U.K. It has launched a variety of streaming products across the region, including Paramount+ in the Nordic countries, Hungary and Poland as well as My5, Pluto TV and MTV Play in the UK. The company also operates a TV production business, Viacom International Studios UK, and has other business interests spanning events, consumer products and location-based entertainment.
VIMN has been shuffling around its European management in the last few months and last week the company brought on former Planeta Junior licensing manager Simone Fenu as Senior Director of Licensing and Consumer Products for Italy and Greece. This past April, former director of content strategy for Disney Channels Latin America German Groba joined VIMN as SVP of its youth & music and kids & family brands in Southern and Western Europe and MENA. The conglom also expanded its third-party production in the region in April by launching new production hubs including Viacom International Studios UK, bringing aboard former Comedy Central EVP Jill Offman to lead that prodco.
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H/T: Special thanks to RegularCapital WarnerMedia Animation News for the news! Sources: Digital TV Europe, Kidscreen, TBI Vision, Deadline, C21 Media.
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