NBCU UK, emerging markets chief set for exit

NBCUniversal’s long-serving Colin McLeod is to leave the US media giant’s international operation this year, TBI can reveal.

NBCUniversal International Networks’ London-based managing director for the UK and emerging markets is exiting the business after a decade.

He will remain with the business into the second quarter of 2017, with a recruitment process for a successor underway.

McLeod is widely liked and respected at NBCU, but is leaving to spend more time with his family after a long run in management positions. An NBCU spokesperson confirmed his departure this morning.

McLeod joined NBCU in 2007, when the US company acquired UK-based channels group Sparrowhawk Media Group, which housed the Hallmark Channel and KidsCo.

He then rose through the ranks, going on to lead the central and eastern Europe channels operations for many years among other top-level duties.

In December 2015, he took on his current post, MD of the UK and emerging markets, as part of a restructure that TBI’s sister site, Digital TV Europe, revealed at the time.

Former UK MD Nicky Douglas exited as part of those changes, which in effect brought NBCU’s emerging markets and British channels under one roof. Similar centralised hubs that align networks with distribution were also established in Latin America and Asia.

NBCU International Networks, which was established as a brand name in 2015, houses stations such as Universal Channel, 13^th Street, Syfy, E! and Style Network in more than 167 territories worldwide.