Kyriacou named Viacom President of UK, N & E Europe
October 1, 2019
Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has announced the appointment of Maria Kyriacou to head its pan-regional operations managed out of the UK. As President for VIMN UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, she will have oversight of all its media networks and related businesses in 33 European countries, including Channel 5 in the UK. Kyriacou, who is currently President of International for ITV Studios, will report to David Lynn, President, CEO of VIMN.
David Lynn commented: “Maria has led the international expansion of ITV’s studios business and her track record of growing international revenues from production, content licensing and distribution at both ITV and Disney means she is ideally equipped to head our operations managed out of the UK. Her experience of acquiring, integrating and managing creative businesses and her deep knowledge of the international television market will add a valuable perspective to our fast evolving UK operations and I’m delighted to welcome her to the team. She will take the helm at an exciting time, with the merger to form ViacomCBS set to confirm us as one of the world’s most important content producers and providers and to open up new opportunities to licence our brands, content and IP.”
Kyriacou added: “I am incredibly excited to be joining David and the team. With the strength and breadth of its brands and its extensive reach, VIMN is in a great place to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the dynamism of our industry. I’m looking forward to being part of this exciting future.”
VIMN operates 120 TV networks reaching 90 million households in 33 territories across the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe. In the UK, its portfolio of channels includes free-to-air public service broadcast network, Channel 5, which has helped it secure an 8 per cent share of total TV viewing to date in 2019. VIMN has launched a variety of streaming products across the region, including Paramount+ in the Nordic countries, Hungary and Poland and My5, Pluto TV and MTV Play in the UK. The company also operates a TV production business, Viacom International Studios UK, and has other business interests spanning events, consumer products and location-based entertainment.