BritBox U.K. Taps Will Harrison as Managing Director

By Naman Ramachandran

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Streamer has appointed Will Harrison as managing director for the U.K.

Harrison comes to the service from media investment group Ingenious Media, where he was managing director. An industry veteran, he has had previous stints at Warner Bros., HBO, Disney, A+E Television and Turner Broadcasting.

His duties will include profit and loss responsibility, staff management, strategy and stakeholder relationships. He will report into Reemah Sakaan, who will now be in an expanded role as chief brand and creative development officer for BritBox Global.

Sakaan said: “He brings with him great experience and a track record of success in direct to consumer and streaming. I look forward to working with him to take BritBox to its next stage of growth in the U.K.”

“They have done a fantastic job in an incredibly short period of time,” Harrison added. “I’m excited at the growth ahead of us and look forward to helping BritBox move from a start up to a well-established part of the British media landscape.”

Created by the BBC and ITV, BritBox launched in North America in 2017, where it has some 650,000 subscribers.

The U.K. service first rolled out in November 2019 and is accessible on 10 million devices, which is a third of U.K. homes. A monthly subscription costs £5.99 ($7.80) and the programming includes a range of content from the BBC and ITV, Channel 5, and British comedies from Comedy Central U.K.

British TV box sets from All 4 and British films from Film 4 are expected to be available on the service later this year and originals are also in the pipeline.

Shows available on BritBox include “Downton Abbey,” “Gavin & Stacey,” “Broadchurch” and “Doctor Who.”