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BBC Broadcast to set up base in US this July
MUMBAI: BBC Broadcast Ltd (BBC’s commercial media services arm) which is widely known for its award-winning designs and creative and promotional excellence is gearing up to open offices in New York. Primarily targeting broadcast and cable networks, this move marks the next step for the BBC’s new commercial media services business’ aggressive US expansion strategy.
As of July 2004, BBC Broadcast will open offices in New York in an effort to significantly increase its capacity to service new clients in North America. Providing a unique blend of creative and technical expertise across all areas of on-air branding and promotion, the new commercial BBC Broadcast venture is able to offer the full range of its channel solution services to external broadcasters and other commercial clients around the globe, with the US serving as its first major market expansion.
BBC Broadcast has also initiated a search for a New York-based executive producer to handle industry outreach, business development and client services in the US.
Over the last five years, BBC Broadcast has won over 100 Promax&BDA awards for its creative design and strategy throughout Europe. Also at the recent Promax Europe that were held in Rome on 22-23 March, BBC Broadcast was the big winner, leading the pack with 10 awards for promotional excellence including gold statuettes for Europe’s Best Television Image Campaign of the year, Best Drama Promo, Best Music Promo, Best News and Current Affairs Promo and Best Factual or Factual Entertainment Promo.
“Our offering of high caliber award-winning work, talent and global entertainment perspective has not been available in the US until now,” explained BBC Broadcast’s director of creative services Andy Bryant who oversees the creative services group from London. “We see a tremendous opportunity in the US marketplace as the market continues to grow and the desire for a unique perspective is in demand. With an expert team of creative service professionals on-staff in London, supported by the efforts of our soon-to-be-named US executive, we are now able to offer that same level of quality marketing and design solutions to networks here in America. Working as a commercial entity, BBC Broadcast delivers incredibly effective concepts and designs at a very competitive rate,” he added.
BBC Broadcast global business director for the unit Nigel Cole added, “The wealth of opportunity here in the US made it an ideal market for our expansion. America has an incredible number of successful broadcast and cable networks, it is a driving force in the digital channel environment, and it continues the exploration into new technologies and new platforms of distribution, all of which require distinctive strong brand imagery to stand out. As the song goes, ‘if we can make it here, we’ll make it anywhere,’ so we’re all very excited to open our New York office and get busy working with US network clients.”
The New York office opening also coincides with the unit’s participation at the annual Promax&BDA Conference in New York which will be held from 23-25 June. Drawing top television marketing, promotion and design talent from around the world, BBC Broadcast’s team will also be presenting a special seminar on great storytelling on 25 June.
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Gurpreet Singh named President of DishTV Alumni Network
Former Dish TV executive to lead community building and collaboration.
MUMBAI: Back to the dish, but this time it’s about connections, not channels Gurpreet Singh is returning to familiar territory with a new mandate that swaps subscribers for relationships. Singh has been appointed President of the DishTV Alumni Network, a move aimed at strengthening ties among former employees and building a more engaged professional community around the Dish TV ecosystem. The initiative reflects a growing trend among large organisations to formalise alumni networks as platforms for collaboration, mentorship and business opportunities.
The appointment draws on Singh’s deep-rooted history with Dish TV, where he held multiple leadership roles over nearly a decade. As National Business Head between June 2019 and September 2020, he oversaw profit and loss as well as operations, managing revenues of Rs 6,000 crore and leading a team of around 1,250 employees across the country. His tenure included working alongside two regional business heads and 16 circle heads, underscoring the scale of operations he handled.
Prior to that, Singh served as Executive Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue from 2016 to 2019, and earlier as Senior Vice President and National Head for Sales and Revenue. He also briefly led international operations as Country Head for Sri Lanka, further expanding his exposure across markets.
His broader career spans leadership roles across telecom and consumer businesses, including a stint as Chief Operating Officer at Bharti Airtel’s Malawi operations, senior leadership roles at Reliance Communications, and earlier positions at Hindustan Sanitaryware and Kodak India, where he spent over a decade.
In his new role, Singh is expected to focus on reconnecting former employees, fostering collaboration, and building a structured alumni ecosystem that leverages shared experience and industry networks. As companies increasingly recognise the long-term value of their extended workforce, the DishTV Alumni Network appears set to turn nostalgia into a strategic asset, one connection at a time.
