Banijay Appoints Former Endemol Shine Intl. Boss Cathy Payne as CEO of Banijay Rights

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Banijay Group, which is in the process of acquiring Endemol Shine, has appointed Cathy Payne as CEO of Banijay Rights to lead the business’ growing global distribution strategy and spearhead the division through its next chapter.

Payne was previously CEO of Endemol Shine International where she worked for a decade before stepping down last year. Prior to that, Payne was chief executive at Southern Star International where she was responsible for building one of the largest distributors of English-language content outside of the U.S. for over 20 years.

As part of the executive shakeup, Tim Mutimer will take the role of EVP for EMEA sales and acquisitions at Banijay Rights.

Payne will start her new role on April 27, reporting to the CEO, Marco Bassetti. “Cathy is an exceptional leader and incredibly well-respected industry mogul. A creative entrepreneur with extraordinary market knowledge and commercial intelligence, she is behind some of the world’s biggest distribution successes,” said Bassetti.

The Banijay Rights catalog currently comprises some of the world’s leading formats and titles including “Survivor,” “Versailles,” “Temptation Island” and “Wife Swap.”

Banijay announced its $2.2 billion deal for Endemol Shine back in October and is awaiting approval from anti-trust authorities. It recently completed its refinancing drive to raise €2.3 billion ($2.48 billion) for the acquisition of the company.

The merged entity would be the largest non-U.S. player in the market, with a bigger catalog than the main U.K. players, BBC Studios and ITV Studios. The combined group will be held by LDH (67.1%), which comprises Financière LOV, De Agostini and Fimalac, the investment company of Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, and French media giant Vivendi (32.9%).