BBC Broadcast appoints its first Director of Media Services

BBC Broadcast Ltd, the newly-launched commercial subsidiary of the BBC, have announced the appointment of Margaret Kelly as Director of Playout and Media Services.
Margaret Kelly joins the company from Discovery Networks Europe where she was Senior Vice President of Business Services responsible for the operation of Discovery’s activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Margaret Kelly said: “The opportunities for BBC Broadcast are vast. It has a world-class pedigree and a team of outstanding people. The opening of the Broadcast Centre in 2003 will herald a new era in multi-channel broadcasting and I am delighted to be joining the company at such an exciting and challenging time.”
Ms Kelly has a wealth of editorial and technical broadcasting expertise and, during her six years with Discovery, she was involved with the launch of some 30 channels across Europe and the Middle East – in 21 different languages. Her career has also included posts at Flextech Television, working on the launch of The Children’s Channel in the Nordic region and Wire TV.
Ms Kelly will lead BBC Broadcast’s Playout and Media Services operation which provides a comprehensive multi-platform channel management service to broadcasters, including channel play-out, provision of schedule data to electronic programme guides, promotional air-time planning and evaluation and content management and digital publishing services for the web and interactive TV.
Pam Masters, Managing Director of BBC Broadcast, said: “When we launched BBC Broadcast we announced our aim to build a team of the finest talents both from within the BBC and from the private sector. Margaret is one of those talents: her broad-based knowledge of international, multi-channel operations and scheduling, coupled with sound commercial management, will be of immense value in supporting our long-term strategic business plan and our future success.”
BBC Broadcast currently provides services for 17 public service and commercial television channels, 5 national radio networks, 39 local radio stations and BBCi.
BBC Broadcast, www.bbcbroadcast.com
(GMcG)