Entertainment

Sally Habbershaw exits Mediawan to lead BBC Studios sales

Putri ArdhanaPublished 2w ago2 min readBased on 5 sources
Sally Habbershaw exits Mediawan to lead BBC Studios sales
Photo by CillBill / CC BY-SA 4.0

Sally Habbershaw is leaving Mediawan after less than a year to lead global sales at BBC Studios.

BBC Studios, the BBC's commercial arm, has named her President of Global Distribution, according to Deadline. The role is London-based and newly expanded. She starts on September 28.

In the job she will oversee the worldwide content sales business. That is the team that sells finished programmes and formats to broadcasters, streamers and other buyers outside the UK. She will report to Zai Bennett, BBC Studios Global Content chief executive and chief creative officer.

The appointment fills a gap left in January. Former sales boss Janet Brown, who was based in the United States, exited then as part of a plan to bring distribution closer to the UK.

Habbershaw arrives with a short but busy Mediawan chapter behind her. She joined the French group last October as chief distribution officer, replacing Valerie Vleeschhouwer. The division she led is called Mediawan Rights.

At Mediawan she ran international sales and set the group's global content sales and acquisitions strategy. The brief covered worldwide distribution, formats, and scripted and unscripted sales across 80 production companies. Her arrival also coincided with Mediawan moving its sales headquarters from Paris to London, as reported by Screen Daily.

Before Mediawan, Habbershaw was New York-based as Americas sales chief at All3Media International. She held the title of executive vice president there before moving back to the UK. Jennifer Askin was appointed to lead All3Media International's New York-based Americas operation after her departure, according to C21Media.

What makes this stand out is the speed of the switch. Less than twelve months after taking a newly created post in London for Mediawan, Habbershaw is taking another newly shaped post in London for BBC Studios.

For viewers, little changes on screen. This is a behind-the-scenes hire. But it decides who sells British shows abroad, and how fast they travel.

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