Discovery appoints ANZ leadership team to manage growing TV assets

After completing its acquisition of New Zealand FTA TV broadcaster MediaWorks last December, Discovery Inc has announced its Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Leadership Team, its first move towards combining its businesses across the region into one organisation spanning both countries.

Discovery ANZ has appointed the following leadership roles:

Darren Chau - Senior Director, Production, ANZ
Juliet Peterson - Senior Director, Programming, ANZ
Donna Gurney - Senior Director, Ad Sales, ANZ
Sarah Bristow - Senior Director, News, NZ
Michelle Cole - Senior Manager, Trading, ANZ
David Gwynne - Director, Commercial Partnerships & Ops, ANZ
Gab Ayoub - Director, Creative and Branding, ANZ
Shannon Most - Senior Director, Marketing & CSR, ANZ
Karina Healy - Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, ANZ

Rebecca Kent (pictured), General Manager, Australia & New Zealand said:

“As the first step in moving to a single trans-Tasman organisation, we are delighted to announce our leadership team today. This team will be key in driving increased scale across our free-to-air, pay TV and direct-to-consumer portfolio, as we continue to evolve our business to meet changing demands and better serve our audiences.”

Glen Kyne, General Manager, New Zealand & Australia, said:

“We are focused on driving growth for our region as we realise the full value of our portfolio of brands, enabling us to deliver premium news and entertainment content to our audiences as well as enhanced solutions for our advertisers. Our team of leaders are well placed to deliver on these goals as we drive the continued success of our brands and unlock new opportunities across both markets.”

Discovery has had a presence in Australia and New Zealand for more than 25 years, when it first launched Discovery Channel on Foxtel and Sky. The New Zealand portfolio includes free-to-air channels, Three, Bravo, Choice, HGTV, Three+1, Bravo+1, The Edge TV and The Breeze TV, streaming service ThreeNow, multi-platform news and current affairs service Newshub and seven pay TV brands - Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Food Network, Living, Investigation Discovery and Discovery Turbo on Sky.

Discovery Australia’s portfolio includes eight pay TV channels across Foxtel and Fetch - Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Discovery Turbo, HGTV, Food Network and Travel Channel, free-to-air channel 9Rush, a partnership with Nine Entertainment Co, and golf streaming service GOLFTV.

See also: Discovery, Inc completes MediaWorks TV Ltd acquisition