Soumya Sriraman Appointed President of Upcoming SVOD Service BritBox, North America
A Joint Venture Between BBC Worldwide and ITV
New York, NY – Soumya Sriraman has been appointed President, North America of the soon-to-launch subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, BritBox – a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of BBC, and ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster, effective immediately. Sriraman was most recently Executive Vice President of Franchise and Digital Enterprises at BBC Worldwide North America. BritBox will launch in Q1, 2017. Her successor will be announced in the coming weeks.
In her new role, Sriraman will be responsible for the overall strategy and operation of BritBox, with a focus on bringing the best British content to the service through acquisitions, licensing, co-productions, and key partnerships, with an emphasis on reach, engagement, and retention.
With over 20 years of entertainment experience, Sriraman has an accomplished track record, most recently in her role at BBC Worldwide North America, where she expanded brand platforms, maximized distribution outlets, developed new products, and grew the digital and physical franchise businesses. She has also built a line-up of compelling cinema events for key BBC brands including Doctor Who and BBC Earth.
Prior to joining BBC Worldwide North America, Sriraman was CEO of Palisades Tartan, a British/American film distribution company. She has also held senior executive positions at Universal, Warner, and Vivendi.
“Soumya has an outstanding historical knowledge and familiarity with British content. This, coupled with her creativity and excellent business acumen makes her the ideal executive to fill this role,” states Ann Sarnoff, President, BBC Worldwide North America. “I am confident that Soumya is going to make this service a success, as she has done in all her endeavors for the last five years at BBC Worldwide North America.”
Simon Pitts, ITV Managing Director of Online, Pay TV and Interactive said, “BritBox is a very exciting development for fans of British TV and a natural next step in ITV’s growth as a global production and distribution business. I’m delighted that we have someone with Soumya’s knowledge, experience, and passion for British content spearheading the service as we prepare for the U.S. launch.”
“I have personally waited a long time for a service with an offering like this – one with a breadth and depth of compelling content from powerful content producers like the BBC and ITV – all in one place,” states Soumya Sriraman, President, North America of BritBox. “It is a great privilege to lead this team and bring this service to American audiences.”
About BBC Worldwide North America
BBC Worldwide North America is the main commercial arm and wholly-owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) operating in the U.S. and Canada. The company exists to maximize the value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the UK license payer and invests in public service programing in return for rights. The company operates four businesses in the territory – linear and digital content sales and co-productions, consumer products, BBC.com, and two production divisions – BBC Worldwide Productions, responsible for the smash hit Dancing with the Stars and the U.S. version of Top Gear; and Adjacent Productions, producers of Da Vinci’s Demons, Life Below Zero, and Ladies of London, among others. The company also owns a 50.1% share in cable channel BBC AMERICA through a joint venture with AMC Networks.
About ITV
ITV is an integrated producer broadcaster and the largest commercial television network in the UK. It is the home of popular television from the biggest entertainment events, to original drama, major sport, landmark factual series and independent news. It operates a family of channels including ITV, ITVBe, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 and CITV, which are broadcast free-to-air, as well as the pay channel ITV Encore. ITV is also focused on delivering its programming via the ITV Hub, mobile devices, video on demand and third party platforms. ITV Studios is a global production business, creating and selling programmes and formats from offices in the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany, the Nordics and the Netherlands. It is the largest and most successful commercial production company in the UK, the largest independent non-scripted indie in the US and ITV Studios Global Entertainment is a leading international distribution businesses.
Press Contacts
BBC Studios
Deborah Schonfeld
deborah.schonfeld@bbc.com
212.705.9498
ITV
Laura Wootten
laura.wootten@itv.com
+44 20 715 73056