Jon Gisby takes over as Chair of the British Screen Advisory Council (BSAC

Today, BSAC has announced that Jon Gisby will take over from Adam Singer as Chair and non-Executive Director.

Jon Gisby works at the forefront of the interactive entertainment and digital media sector. He brings a vast breadth of knowledge and experience to the position having had senior executive and advisory roles with broadcasters (the BBC and Channel 4), major online services (Freeserve/France Telecom and Yahoo! Europe) and next-generation video companies (Rightster, MagineTV and Vevo).

Jon has been a BSAC Member since 2012. Adam Singer will remain in Membership, having served as Chair for 8 years.

Jon Gisby said,

“I’m delighted that the Board has asked me to succeed Adam as Chair of BSAC. During his tenure the opportunities and challenges facing the industry have grown exponentially and BSAC’s meetings and events have fizzed with insights, debate and practical policy discussions. I look forward to working with Fiona and the team to further enhance BSAC’s influential role as the best place for the industry to meet, share experience and build valuable consensus on issues that matter”

Adam Singer, outgoing Chair of BSAC said,

“It is said if you go down to the crossroads you can sell your soul and become a blues player, or Chair of BSAC. BSAC is the best Crossroads there is. Where TV, Games, Film, and signal distributors share visions of the industry. For the 8 years I have been Chair, Fiona, her team and the quality of debate from our membership made this the most pleasurable of gigs. Jon is the right person to take the BSAC conversation into a post television age, so it’s time for me to go ‘dust my broom’.”

Notes

• Jon Gisby will serve as Chair of BSAC on an independent basis.

Jon Gisby is a digital media executive who has spent twenty years building, leading and transforming companies that create and deliver premium content, particularly TV and online video. He has worked for broadcasters, rights holders, brands and platforms to identify and build new audiences and revenue, both in their existing businesses and in new digital propositions. He was one of the many architects of the BBC’s digital strategy, ran the content and services at Freeserve and was MD of Yahoo! UK and ran their media business across Europe. He was appointed to the board of Channel 4 and led the teams that built 4oD into the UK’s leading commercial VOD service. In 2013, he was commissioned by Ofcom to assess the future of ad-funded content on TV and online, gathering perspectives from across the industry on the rapid development of online video and brand-funded content. He helped launch Rightster, which has since become the largest non US MCN, and was EVP Business Development at Magine TV, the OTT TV service that is now live in Sweden, Germany and the UK. He has recently returned from New York where he advised the CEO and executive team at Vevo, one of the largest distributors of premium online video.

Jon has been a Member of BSAC since 2012.

• Adam Singer became Chair of BSAC in 2008, and is also Chairman of Digital Radio UK, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society and the United Kingdom Hydrographic He has worked in broadcasting and telecoms in the UK, US, France and Japan. He launched the Discovery Channel in Europe and was its first MD. He helped create UKTV with the BBC and is a former Chairman and CEO of Flextech plc. He was COO of TCI international, looking after John Malone’s investments in the UK, France, South America and Japan where with Sumitomo he created Jupiter Telecom and Programming. He was CEO of Telewest plc, providing telephone, broadband and TV programming; CEO of the Performing Rights Society; and Deputy Chair of the Ofcom Content Board.

• The British Screen Advisory Council (BSAC) is an independent industry-funded body that uniquely brings together the widest range of business interests in the UK audiovisual industries.

BSAC provides a private place where its Members can share experience, intelligence and insight on business and policy issues at a time of rapid change. Where possible, it drive consensus amongst its Membership, thereby providing policymakers at a national and European level with informed advice and opinion on issues of importance to the sector.

• For further information, please contact:

Fiona Clarke-Hackston, Chief Executive

British Screen Advisory Council (BSAC)

Telephone:                            020 7287 1111

Email:                                        [email protected]