NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC APPOINTS FIRST DIGITAL MEDIA EXECUTIVE IN THE UK

Published: 31 August 2006

NGTI (National Geographic Television International) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sandra Brown to its international content distribution team.

Brown, who takes up the newly created position of Head of Business Development, Digital Media – UK, joins from telco Hutchison 3G, where she was Entertainment Product Manager, responsible for developing 3’s product content strategy and business model for mobile TV and entertainment services. Before joining Hutchison in 2000 she was News Editor at Efdex News and prior to that spent a number of years at the BBC, starting in broadcasting research and then working across a variety of BBC TV and radio programmes in a production capacity.

In this new position, Sandra will be responsible for helping to develop mobile, VOD and broadband business for NGTI, working with operators, broadcasters and platforms outside the US. In addition, she will also be responsible for licensing and creating tailored content from National Geographic’s impressive catalogue.

Based in NGTI’s office in London, Sandra will report to NGTI president Ian Jones, as well as Kyle McDoniel, VP business development, Digital Media at National Geographic’s headquarters in the US. She will also work closely with the existing stateside teams covering the VOD and digital media business areas.

NGTI president Ian Jones comments: “National Geographic’s content distribution business is expanding outside of the US and London is fast becoming its international hub. NGTI has already added a Kids’ programming salesperson to its team this year and we are delighted to now welcome Sandra onboard. The growing requirement to manage rights effectively across more platforms and the opportunities that new technology developments now present make her appointment very timely. In addition, Sandra’s experience across content production and mobile business development in the entertainment field will make her contribution invaluable.”

“Sandra’s expertise will be invaluable as we expand our digital media offerings in the UK to include news and information, maps, imagery, online video and their extensions onto other platforms” said Kyle McDoniel, vice president of business development for National Geographic’s Digital Media Group.