Shahid Taps Former NENT Studios U.K. Boss Jakob Mejlhede Andersen as CCO

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Former NENT Studios U.K. boss Jakob Mejlhede Andersen has been appointed CCO of Shahid, the streaming service operated by the Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) which was just revamped.

Andersen will be responsible for the overall content strategy for both Shahid and its premium offering, Shahid VIP, and will be banking on original content, exclusive premieres, and popular third-party programming in Arabic and other languages.

The appointment of Andersen reflects the MBC’s ambition to ramp up Shahid’s original drama and expands the service’s scope. Under his role, the executive will also spearhead the content pipeline for MBC group’s OTT services.

“We are confident he has the insights and experience to steer Shahid’s content in the direction we are envisioning,”said MBC Group CEO, Marc Antoine d’Halluin.

“Exciting times lie ahead to ensure we are always offering the best of the best to our loyal viewers, not to mention the most diverse premium content offering in the region,” added d’Halluin.

Andersen joins Shahid with more than 20 years experience in the TV industry, having forged solid content strategies for channels and online services across Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Africa.

Over at NENT Studios, Andersen had a successful tenure and played a key role in building Viaplay, NENT Group’s streaming platform into a leading Nordic streaming service. In four years, Viaplay went from premiering one original to premiering 30 series this year.

“This is a new and exciting step forward in my career, and I am thrilled to be joining MBC Group’s Shahid team in the Middle East,” said Andersen.