HONG KONG – November 29, 2013 – FOX International Channels (FIC) Asia announced today that it has made senior appointments into two newly created positions. Helena Choe started in her new role on November 18th as Vice President of Syndication while Rahul Sood will assume the role of Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Commercial effective December 9th, FIC said in a press release. Both executives’ geographic remit will cover Asia Pacific and the Middle East. The addition of these two seasoned executives will strengthen FIC’s Affiliate Partnerships and Syndication division, further expanding FIC’s presence in the television and content industry across the region.
As Vice President of Syndication based in Hong Kong, Choe will work with channel and business development teams, as well as country managers to establish region-wide syndication policies and drive the distribution ofFIC Asia’s sports, factual and entertainment content rights to multiple platforms. With its launch of FOX Sports in Asia at the beginning of this year, FIC is committed to growing the presence of high quality sports content across the region and helping to make it accessible to sports fans everywhere. The creation of this role and Choe’s appointment are in line with this objective. She joins FIC from sports rights marketing agency Sportfive International, where she held the position of Managing Director of the Hong Kong office, leading activities for Sportfive’s TV rights in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, and digital rights across Asia Pacific. Helena was also previously Vice President of Digital Media, Asia Pacific at Media.
Sood will operate out of Singapore as Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Commercial. He will be responsible for FIC’s sales and channel development of new markets across the region, with emphasis on newly emerging markets. Rahul will also be developing FIC’s sales strategy for commercial establishments such as hotels and other out-of-home opportunities. In addition, Sood will focus on the international distribution beyond APAC and the Middle East of FIC’s suite of Chinese channels, which includes SCM, the network’s powerhouse Chinese movies channel. This emphasis underscores FIC’s commitment to the ambitious goal of promoting Chinese-language content beyond Asia and taking the SCM brand global. Sood brings over 17 years of leadership experience in various roles in Asia’s TV industry. Prior to joining FIC, he spent 10 years as the Head of Affiliate Sales and Network Distribution at NDTV, one of India’s leading news networks. Prior to that he held the role of Executive Director of Affiliate Sales for South Asia at Turner Broadcasting and was part of the initial core team who established the New Delhi office.
Helena Choe and Rahul Sood report to Alex Lambeek, Executive Vice President of Affiliate Partnerships and Syndication for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at FIC.
“Both Helena and Rahul bring a great wealth of experience to FOX International Channels and we are very pleased to welcome them on board,”said Alex Lambeek. “Their appointments serve to demonstrate our commitment to work closely with our affiliate partners to further FIC’s presence across Asia Pacific and the Middle East.”
Choe said, “I am pleased to be joining the leader in regional broadcasting and an internationally renowned brand. With sports, factual and entertainment under FIC Asia’s portfolio, I look forward to working with great content across all different genres.”
Sood said, “It’s a real honor to join a network with such a strong commitment to building great partnerships with affiliates. I look forward to expanding FIC’s distribution network and working closely with existing and new platform partners to build the business together."
