BBCWW adds two commissioning execs

BBC Worldwide has appointed executives formerly of National Geographic and Viacom respectively to its global commissioning team.

Hannah Demidowicz joins from Nat Geo Channels International, where she was commissioning executive and European head of programmes, while Andrea Speziale Bagliacca was most recently Viacom’s VP, commissioning.

Both become BBCWW commissioning editors, with Demidowicz reporting in to Ricky Kelehar, VP, commissioning for BBC Ameria and Julie Swanston, VP, commissioning for BBC Worldwide. Speziale Bagliacca reports into Swanston only.

The pair will beresponsible for developing and commissioning original content for BBCWW’s new genre brands, BBC Brit and BBC Earth, while working closely with international channels such as BBC America.

“I’m thrilled that Andrea and Hannah will be joining our team, they both have fantastic track records in developing ambitious global series and this experience will be invaluable in supporting our commissioning strategy for BBC Worldwide’s new global genre brands and our network of international channels,” said Swanston.

In further news, Nicki McDermott has been promoted to permanent head of acquisitions, entertainment. She joined BBCWW from part-subsidiary UKTV, and has since overseen the acquisition of formats such as Tumble, which is currently occupying the BBC One Saturday night slot.

“The UK production industry is alive with ideas and I’m looking forward to working with production teams across both the BBC and indie community to see more great ideas made and seen by audiences all around the world,” she said.

McDermott will report into BBCWW’s genre director, factual entertainment and entertainment Tracy Forsyth.

The hires come as BBCWW increases its spend on original content to more than £200 million (US$331.6 million) annually.