Payne to head distribution at Endemol

Endemol has appointed Cathy Payne head of its distribution business. Payne is currently running Southern Star International – acquired by Endemol earlier this year – and will relocate to the UK to manage the Endemol Group programme sales business, which will also incorporate the Southern Star catalogue.

The management shake-up that sees Payne installed as head of sales also sees Caroline Torrance, executive director of scripted programming, step down. Having been at Endemol since 2006, she will leave Endemol in September.

The combined Endemol and Southern Star library stretches to 20,000 hours across entertainment, factual and kids genres and includes 2,000 formats. Payne will report to Endemol chief commercial officer Tom Toumazis in her new role.

Payne said: “The Group is already one of the world’s largest content distributors and we are committed to further growing the business, particularly in areas such as drama and third party representation.”