ITVS adds South Asia sales director

ITV Studios (ITVS), the production and distribution arm of the UK broadcaster, has appointed a former NBCUniversal (NBCU) exec to the newly created role of sales director for South Asia.

Kunal Shah

Kunal Shah will be responsible for identifying new business opportunities and maximising the value of ITVS’s catalogue of more than 46,000 hours of finished programming across the region.

Based in Mumbai and reporting to Augustus Dulgaro, exec VP of distribution for Asia Pacific, Shah will also be tasked with driving revenue across the tape and scripted formats business, while managing the end-to-end sales process.

Shah previously spent five years at NBCU as director of sales liaison, South Asia, managing all content licensing of linear and digital within India and other South Asian regions for the studio and its affiliates.

Prior to that, he worked as general manager of content at Times Internet and The Times of India Group, heading content acquisition and partnerships, and as director and country business head at Qtelmedia.

Dulgaro said: “ITVS’s Indian business has grown significantly over the last few years due to our excellent content and the strength of our client relationships on the ground. Kunal’s authority and depth of experience in the Indian market is a welcome addition to ITVS and I am delighted to welcome him to the APAC team.”

In related news, local versions of ITVS quizshow The Chase have been commissioned by TV Nova in the Czech Republic and Mega in Greece.

The orders mean a total of 17 countries have optioned the format. In the Czech Republic, the show will launch later this year as a daily series. In Greece, it will debut early in 2022.