Anil Jhingan Is Appointed Discovery President in Asia Pacific Region
Anil Jhingan will take over as president and MD of Discovery in Asia Pacific. He will be based in London and report directly to JB Perrette, president and CEO of Discovery streaming and international activities.
The current regional head Simon Robinson is stepping away from the APAC business to lead integration planning activities in connection with the proposed WarnerMedia transaction.
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Jhingan joined Discovery in 2019 as executive VP of corporate development, EMEA and APAC, having previously been Sky’s group director of mergers and acquisitions. A lawyer by training, Jhingan previously held other roles at Sky, 21st Century Fox and News Corp.
Discovery currently has twelve office hubs in Asia covering 52 markets, 25 channel brands in 18 languages, and streaming service Discovery Plus.
“APAC remains a key growth driver for Discovery, and Anil’s deep industry experience, impressive international track record and strong leadership qualities, working with our expert local teams, will be central in building continued scale and differentiation in this critical region,” said Perette in a statement.
“Asia Pacific offers immense opportunity for Discovery, with our focus on great local storytelling and ever broadening distribution of our content to audiences across the region,” said Jhingan.
Perette also thanked Robinson. “[Robinson] is an outstanding executive who, together with strong local leadership, has driven significant expansion in APAC, including the launch of Discovery Plus in India and the Philippines, as well as increased investment in local content and production,” he said.
In August, Discovery appointed Jeeyoung Lee to become its senior VP of Asia-Pacific content strategy and GM for both Japan and Korea. Lee will run the group’s business in Korea, where the establishment of the Studio Discovery production house, in partnership with Korea Telecom’s skyTV, and the launch of Discovery Korea Networks were also announced this year. Based in Seoul, Lee joined from New Regency Productions where she led APAC regional content sales.
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