Karen Johnston has been appointed to the newly created Singapore-based role, having been lured over from her previous job as VP of programming at Asian satellite channel Star World. The new appointment is effective immediately.

Johnston will play a key role in NBCU's plan to launch a number of new channels across Asia in the next six months, drawing on its own brands such as Sci Fi, 13th Street, Studio Universal and Universal Channel.

NBCU is also expected to roll out some from newly acquired Sparrowhawk Media, such as Hallmark Channel, Movies 24, Diva TV and the joint-venture KidsCo channel.

As part of her role, Johnston will be responsible for managing the channels' programming requirements and support the formation of strategic partnerships and alliances across the Asian region, said NBCU.

At News Corp-owned Star World, she was responsible for programme acquisitions for all four Star World channels and for negotiating programming contracts for other Star channels such as Xing Kong and ANTV.

The news follow NBCU's recent acquisition of JSBC2, a subsidiary of Japanese cable company Jupiter Telecommunications. The deal will see Sci Fi initially launching on digital platform J:Com, a JSBC2 sister company, sometime next year.