SKY CENTRALIZES ITS EUROPEAN ACQUISITIONS ACTIVITY UNDER SARAH WRIGHT

Comcast-owned Sky has centralized its European acquisitions activity under Sarah Wright, who has been elevated from Director of Acquisitions and Sky Cinema to Group Director of Acquisitions, Deadline reported. The change means that acquisitions teams across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy will report to Wright, who will be based in the UK. Katie Keenan and Lucy Criddle, both Directors of Acquisitions for the UK, will lead on film and series, respectively.

Meanwhile, Daniele Ottier and Matthias Kistler — who spearhead acquisitions in Italy and Germany — will become part of Wright’s leadership team while maintaining local reporting lines. They will continue to lead on local deals, but also work closely with Keenan and Criddle on pan-European agreements.

“From the point at which Sky UK & ROI, Germany, Austria & Switzerland and Italy came together seven years ago, the acquisitions teams have been working together collaboratively, especially on the bigger film agreements and output deals. This is the next step in that evolution – formalizing the structure to achieve greater efficiency, synergy and coordination across markets,”  commented Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content for Sky UK and Ireland.

“This is vital as we roll out common Sky content brands, showcasing the best shows from around the world, with all the rights we need to ensure our customers can watch what they want, when they want to. I am confident this will enable us to flex our resource more effectively, while retaining a high degree of local expertise in the markets. All teams will be fully utilized across the range of series and film deals, enabling Sky to get more value for money and consistency,”  Bennet added.