Keshet hires former DCD exec as COO

The UK division of Keshet has recruited Sammy Nourmand as its chief operating officer.

Nourmand, who was CEO of UK producer and distributior DCD Media until late 2012, will be COO of Keshet UK, the Israeli media company’s London-based division.

Nourmand will report to Alon Shtruzman, CEO of Keshet International, and take responsibility for Keshet shows in the UK including the upcoming ITV version of talent series Rising Star.

At DCD, Nourmand was made interim COO in 2009 before becoming an executive director in 2011 and CEO in February in 2012. He left DCD in September 2012 following the takeover of DCD by Timeweave.

Speaking about his new appointment he said: “The lure of Keshet’s impressive track record in creating successful shows and Alon’s irrepressible enthusiasm were hard to resist.”

Separately, Keshet International said it has shopped Rising Star to broadcasters in Greece and Ukraine. The popular format has been picked up by Greece’s Mega, which will have a fourteen-episode version and Ukraine’s 1+1, which will have a 15x90mins version produced by Studio Kvartal.

Keshet now has 15 confirmed sales for the interactive show, which only launched internationally at MIPTV. The company told TBI that there are another ten deals agreed with the broadcast partners set to make the local announcements.

In the wake of the deals, Keshet has claimed the show is now the fastest ever selling talent show format, citing analysis from content research house The WIT (World Information Tracking).

The confirmed broadcaster and option deals for Rising Star are: ABC in the US, ITV (UK), Atresmedia (Spain), Toro (Italy), M6 (France), Rossiya 1 (Russia), RTL (Germany), Nordisk (Nordics), TV2 (Hungary), Globo (Brazil), TVI (Portugal), Telefe (Argentina) and Acun Medya (Turkey).