Fox Entertainment restructures and rejigs senior leadership

US media heavyweight, Fox Entertainment, is restructuring the company’s creative and business operation with a focus on three key pillars – studio entertainment, television and streaming platforms, and worldwide sales and licensing.

Rob Wade (Source: Fox Entertainment)

The new Fox Entertainment will consist of three primary business segments, including Fox Entertainment Studios, the Fox Television Network and Fox Entertainment Global.

The restructure comes with the re-appointments of Fernando Szew, who has been promoted to head of Fox Entertainment Studios and Michael Thorn upped to the president of the Fox Television Network. In their new senior roles the pair will both report directly to Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade.

Allison Wallach also joins Szew’s team in the new expanded role of head of global unscripted programming for Fox Entertainment Studios.

Szew was most recently CEO of MarVista Entertainment and Fox Entertainment Global. The revised Fox Entertainment Studios unit will consolidate all of its studio business engines globally, including animation studio Bento Box, behind Bob’s Burgers.

Whereas, Wallach will oversee the company’s growing portfolio of Fox-owned content, leading all creative and production for the division’s unscripted entertainment. This includes global formats such as Beat My Mini-Mes for France’s TF1 and Marriage Market for Germany’s ProSieben.

Thorn who was promoted from his previous role – president of scripted programming for Fox Entertainment, will also work alongside Szew. Under the Fox Television Network banner, he will manage the network’s scripted, unscripted and casting teams. Thorn will also continue his involvement in Fox’s animated properties, remaining a member of the Bento Box Entertainment Steering Committee.

In the meanwhile, Fox Entertainment’s worldwide content sales unit Fox Entertainment Global will be led on an interim basis by Tony Vassiliadis, EVP of FEG as part of restitute. He will report directly to Wade and will continue to run FEG until a new leader is named, at which point he will transition into a new senior role at Fox Entertainment, said the company.

“Under this new structure, every division of Fox Entertainment is now poised for growth and creative excellence as we super-serve our audiences everywhere. Now the work begins,” said Wade.