Fremantle Media bolsters exec team
Fremantle Media has appointed former Network Ten executive Tim Clucas to the new role of director of programming, as the company gears up to go head to head with Elisabeth Murdoch’s soon-to-be launched Shine TV production group.
Clucas, who joined Fremantle Media today (November 2), will oversee the creation of new TV formats, the strategic development of its core business, as well as looking at opportunities available in new media.
His appointment follows news in April that Mark and Carl Fennessy, Fremantle Media CEO and chief operating officer respectively, would defect to rival Shine for its launch in Australia next year.
Ian Hogg has since stepped in to take on the role of CEO at Fremantle Media.
The Fennessy brothers will head up Shine’s Australian operations which will also launch in New Zealand.
Murdoch, daughter of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, set up Shine in 2001 after leaving BSkyB in the UK, where she was managing director of Sky Networks.
Fremantle Media, part of the RTL Group, produces successful global TV formats such as MasterChef, Australian Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Neighbours, Project Runway, Australia’s Got Talent and The Farmer Wants a Wife.
Clucas was previously head of production and development at Ten. He has also worked at the Nine Network and Beyond Productions.