Tuesday 4 November 2014
Award-winning media company, UKTV, will expand its Technology and Operations teams following a period of unprecedented growth, which has seen the network enjoy its most successful year in history and secure a 9% share of British commercial viewing.
The announcement was made by Jan Gooze-Zijl, UKTV's Chief Financial and Operations Officer, who was handed an expanded remit last month. Setting out his vision, Gooze-Zijl said,
UKTV's unparalleled growth in a declining broadcast market has been led by innovation and creativity. I want to create a gold standard operating model for operations and technology that will allow UKTV to realise its strategic objectives as it continues its trajectory of strong growth. The expansion of the Technology and Operations teams will help us to outpace the market on innovative technology to drive viewing and revenue, increase efficiency within our linear channels business and enact a dynamic step change for our digital services.
To realise these ambitions, UKTV will recruit three new senior roles: director level role overseeing all of Technology and Operations, Head of Operations and VOD Architect.
The director role will report directly to Gooze-Zijl and work closely with the board to set out and implement UKTV's strategic vision for excellence in these areas. Their remit will include creating the architecture that will allow UKTV's continued growth.
Gooze-Zijl added,
This expansion reflects UKTV's ongoing success as the fastest growing commercial broadcaster in Britain and allows us to build on the network's reputation for being commercially strategic and delivering innovation.
The news follows UKTV's recent announcement of record revenue at £278m and record investment in programming and related launches at £125m. The 10 channel network has enjoyed success with a raft of recent commissions, including Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish, Crackanory and Storage Hunters UK, which premiered to over a million viewers last week. UKTV has also recently launched its first digital only brand, UKTV Play, which enables viewers to access content from across the network via one easily accessible and dynamic hub.
For more information, please contact:
Kerry Parker, Head of Network Communications
or
Zoë Clapp, Communications Director
About UKTV
UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers every month.
UKTV's eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, Watch, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food - include the most popular non-PSB channel in the UK and account for 9% of the British commercial TV market. The company's most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £278m, and EBITDA of £67.4m. It invested a record £125m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating its 21st year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.