Ziad Kebbi takes charge at Dubai's MForMedia as it pivots to owning shows
Dubai production company MForMedia has named veteran television executive Ziad Kebbi as managing director to lead a shift towards owning its own shows, as reported by Deadline.
The appointment was announced on 14 September. Kebbi will oversee a new direction built on ownership of IP, or intellectual property, meaning the company keeps the rights to the programmes it creates and can sell or remake them.
MForMedia was launched a decade ago by Khalil Homeissy and Ralph Matar. Both founders will stay on to oversee group strategy, according to the company.
The plan is to re-engineer MForMedia into a studio that creates and owns ideas across scripted and unscripted, meaning dramas and comedies on one side and reality and entertainment shows on the other. Digital content and AI-assisted production will form part of the new business, the company said.
It is a change of model for a business known for making regional versions of other people's formats. Its credits include regional versions of Carpool Karaoke, The X Factor and Takeshi's Castle.
Kebbi is a familiar name in Middle East television. He previously served as managing director of Endemol Middle East, president of Sony Pictures Television Arabia and chief executive of Talpa Middle East. His production credits include nine seasons of The Voice Arabia.
He has run his own companies before. In 2014 he launched Dubai-based Maximum Media, as reported by Variety, and he later served as chief executive of Dubai-based Blue Engine Studios, as reported by Arab News.
For viewers, this means new faces rather than new episodes. Nothing has been ordered yet. The test will be what original shows the reorganised studio puts into production next.
