People to Meet: Lisa Higginson

Shine International is heading to Discop looking to build on the success of formats including MasterChef and Must Be The Music. The cooking format has been a hit in Croatia, while Must Be The Music has been a ratings success in Poland.

Lisa Higginson, manager, international distribution at the News Corp-owned distributor, is leading this charge and will be in Budapest to talk to CEE broadcasters about these formats as well as The Magicians, The Biggest Loser and Got To Dance. “We also have a couple of really exciting new projects airing in the autumn which we’ll be discussing,” she adds.
 
Higginson has highlighted Russia and Poland as two of its key markets. “Discop is a fantastic opportunity to catch up with developments in the Hungarian market.  Outside of that, we’re really excited to extend our business into the Russian and Polish pay TV markets as well as to build upon our format business in territories such as Czech Republic, Serbia and Croatia where we can see great potential for format growth, ” she adds.

Shine International is also looking to boost its drama sales with series including The Hour, the six-part period drama for the BBC, and US animated series Archer, which is entering its third season. “The market also gives us the opportunity to meet with new channels, which doesn’t often happen at MIP because of time restraints. This is really important because the digital business is growing so fast in CEE and the competition for quality content is only getting stronger.”