MUMBAI: Fox International Channels (FIC) has made three new appointments in its leadership team in Asia. Veteran FIC executives Rohit D’Silva and David Shin will see their roles being expanded, whereas Prakash Ramchandani joins the network to lead its non-linear strategy.
Effective immediately, D’Silva takes on the role of executive vice president – commercial, a newly created division, which oversees the network’s revenue streams across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, with the exception of advertising sales. In his new role, D’Silva oversees growth strategy for affiliate and non-linear partnerships, international channel distribution outside of Asia, as well as content syndication across all genres. FIC aims to broaden its relationships with new and existing partners by offering a multi-faceted portfolio of traditional and OTT products and services under one commercial division.
D’Silva has been with FIC Asia for 11 years, first starting out in India and then moving to Dubai as general manager of FIC Middle East in 2006. In 2013, he moved to Singapore to lead the sports division when ESPN Star Sports, which subsequently became Fox Sports, came under the network’s fold. In his new capacity, he will still retain his sports content acquisition duties and will continue to be based in Singapore. For his responsibilities covering Hong Kong & Southeast Asia and all sports acquisitions, D’Silva will continue to report into Joon Lee, who holds a dual role as FIC executive vice president of content & communications for Asia Pacific & Middle East and managing director of Hong Kong & Southeast Asia.
For his commercial responsibilities outside of HK and SE Asia, D’Silva will report into FIC president of Asia Pacific & Middle East Zubin Gandevia.
FIC promoted Shin to the role of general manager of its business and operations in Japan. In his new role, Shin will be responsible for FIC Japan’s P&L, growth strategy, content, marketing and channel operations. He joined FIC in 2009 and was leading the content & communications division in Japan prior to his promotion. In his tenure as head of content, he took the network’s content and channel operations from strength to strength, overseeing the introduction of sports content into FIC Japan’s portfolio, and pioneered the development of OTT platform partnerships, including recent groundbreaking deals. Shin reports into Gandevia.
Ramchandani joins FIC as vice president of Non-Linear Products for Hong Kong & Southeast Asia. In this newly created role, Ramchandani will be responsible for driving FIC’s non-linear strategy and product development across the region, including the network’s authenticated TV Everywhere services and new OTT business models. Ramchandani joins FIC from Spuul, a global OTT service, where he set up their Indian subsidiary and managed its P&L, as well devised the company’s overseas strategy since 2011. The appointment underscores FIC’s development and investment in the non-linear space, as part of the network’s commitment to working with new and existing partners to deliver quality content to viewers in all the ways that suit their consumption behavior. Ramchandani reports to Lee and will be based in Singapore.
Commenting on the executives’ new leadership roles, Lee said, “Our business is growing rapidly in Asia and our success depends in large part on having the right leaders in place. Rohit and David have been an integral part of the FIC Asia family so I can’t think of better executives to take on the roles they have. Non-linear products are a big part of our future and I’m pleased to have an experienced executive like Prakash onboard to help us drive this area. He is a pioneer and early mover in this space and I have no doubt he will take our plans forward rapidly.”
“As our business grows, so do our people. We have a clear vision for our business and having the right talent in key roles is integral to achieving all that we want to achieve. I am lucky to be surrounded by very capable executives who complement each other and are equally driven to achieve our vision. FIC Asia’s leadership team will continue to strengthen and I look forward to taking our business to new heights as a team,” added Gandevia.
