Freemantle Hires Universal Executive To Join DVD Team

FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) the commercial arm of FremantleMedia, one of the largest international creators and producers of programme brands in the world, has announced the appointment of Chris Hendrie in the newly created role of Head of Acquisitions, DVD and Home Entertainment.
Hendrie has been brought in to acquire content specifically for Fremantle Home Entertainment (FHE), the award-winning arm of FME, with his appointment bolstering the label’s recent drive to strengthen its portfolio.
He will focus on a wide range of genres, such as film, live and scripted comedy, TV, drama and factual, and will work with producers, rights holders and talent management agents. Hendrie will be based in London, jointly reporting to Pete Kalhan Senior Vice President Home Entertainment and Archive Sales and Mark Gray, Vice President Co-Production and Acquisitions, who is responsible for acquiring TV content.
Kalhan commented: “We are thrilled to have an executive of Chris’ calibre join us in what is a very exciting period for FHE. Chris’ appointment is a key element in our future growth strategy as we extend and develop our multi-platform distribution in the Home Entertainment Division”.
Gray added: “We are delighted to have Chris on board. With his tremendous experience and industry knowledge, Chris will be a great asset to the team and really help strengthen our position as one of the leading global content distributors”.
Hendrie joins FremantleMedia from Universal Pictures where he was responsible for the acquisition of UK programming in several genres including: stand up comedy, TV series, interactive DVDs, sport, music, kids and fitness.
Prior to this, he was Product Manager at Sanctuary Records Group Ltd, Virgin Records, Island Records, Marketing Manager at Nude Records, and Sales Team representative for PolyGram Records based in Scotland.
FHE already boasts an impressive catalogue of DVD titles, ranging from films to sports, TV to kids, documentaries to music.
(SP)