Marshall Heald quits SBS for Executive Director role at Foxtel Entertainment

The Foxtel Group has announced the appointment of Marshall Heald to the newly created leadership role of executive director Foxtel Entertainment, reporting to the Foxtel Group’s chief commercial and content officer Amanda Laing.

With a proliferation of streaming services competing with FTA BVOD platforms the acquisition of content has never been more critical. Heald and his team at SBS have been beating some of their competitors to key content. Foxtel has decided it would like Heald fighting on their team.

In this new role, Foxtel said Heald will be responsible for the creative vision and editorial strategy for all content on the owned and operated Foxtel entertainment and movie channels together with the presentation of all On Demand content on the Foxtel IQ, Foxtel Now and Foxtel Go products.

This includes On Demand content from Foxtel’s channels and third-party channels, sports channels, integrated third-party apps and TVOD movies.

Heald joins the Foxtel Group from SBS, where he was director, TV and online content. During his time in this role, SBS has delivered a record five years of consecutive audience growth, launched three new channels: SBS Food; SBS Viceland and SBS World Movies and grown SBS ON DEMAND into a leading BVOD service with 10 million registered users.

During his 14 year career at SBS, Heald was previously chief digital officer leading the adoption of digital technologies and innovation across SBS, and formerly manager, digital media, with responsibility for SBS’s online presence.

Laing commented: “As we continue the Foxtel Group’s transformation as Australia’s favourite entertainment company, we are delighted to have Marshall join us in this important leadership role.

“Foxtel offers an incredible range of Australian and international entertainment content, and we have seen rapid growth in On Demand viewing over the past two years. Marshall’s creativity and experience will help take engagement to the next level across channels and On Demand, supporting the investments we are continuing to make in Foxtel as a core part of the Group’s vision for the future.

“This includes the successful launch of the iQ5 in September, accelerating our shift to On Demand and streaming.

“How we curate and present our content has never been more strategically important, and Marshall’s leadership will be an important element in driving our future success, to deliver on our ambitions and build on the momentum the Foxtel Group has established,” Laing said.

Heald will join the Foxtel Group in March 2022.

See also: “A really strong year”: Marshall Heald on SBS’s 2021 slate