Organizational changes in Zodiak Television

12 November 2007

Zodiak Television continues its expansion. Two acquisitions have been made during the fall, the Benelux production company Kanakna and the London based production and distribution company Bullseye TV, and in connection to this the distribution unit Zodiak Television World is moved from Copenhagen to London. As a result of this expansion and the strategic developments in the group, organizational changes are now announced in all four regions – “Nordic”, “East”, “West” and “Continental Europe”.

The previously announced acquisition of the Benelux production company Kanakna is now finalized and Zodiak thus adds a fourth growing region, “Continental Europe”, to its expanding operations. Ludo Poppe, founder and previously CEO of Kanakna, will now become chairman of Kanakna Benelux as well as “Vice President” with responsibility for “Continental Europe”, which currently includes the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. Stef Soeteway and Gert Van Kerckhove, co-founders of the company, take on the positions as MD of Kanakna Belgium and MD of Kanakna Netherlands respectively.

The other large recent acquisition, the London based production and distribution company Bullseye TV, is followed by a number of strategic and organizational changes in Zodiak West. The group’s distribution unit, Zodiak Television World, will, as previously announced, move from Copenhagen to London to be merged with Bullseye’s distribution operations, but continues to operate under the name Zodiak Television World. The founder and owner of Bullseye TV, Jorg Roth, continues as MD of Bullseye Productions and will as of January 1, 2008 also be the MD of Zodiak Television World. A new “Head of Formats” has also been recruited, Sarah Coursey, previously Head of Sales at the London based distribution company Distraction. This development means that the management as well as the product portfolio is strengthened and a substantial full service distribution company is created. Paul Sowerbutts, MD of Zodiak’s other British production company Diverse Production and “Vice President West” will through this also become “Vice President Distribution”.

In “Zodiak East”, currently consisting of Russia and Ukraine, the strong growth continues and the region has in just one year become Zodiak’s largest in terms of sales. New for this region is that Patrick Nebout, carrying on as “Vice President East” with responsibility for, among other thing, further expansion in the region, hands over the MD position of Zodiak Vostok to

Gena Kaganovitj, who over the last couple of years has participated in building up Zodiak in the region and now takes over the operational responsibility.

Zodiak’s original region, the Nordics, announces that Åse Bendiksen, previously producer at the group’s Norwegian production company MTV Mastiff, becomes Head of Sales and Development in said company.