--Music Choice Appoints Director of Content, Tasks her with Integrating More UGC into its Offerings
UK cable operator, Virgin Media, last week announced that it has appointed Aleks Habdank to the newly created position of director of on-demand television services. Habdank, who will start in his new position in the New Year and who will be tasked with the commercial management of Virgin Media's VOD service, joins the company from Chellomedia where he was general manager of Chello On Demand and where, according to Virgin Media, he was "a founder member of the management team that helped set up transactional TV services across Europe." His resume also includes stints at ntl and Zone Vision Group. Virgin Media says that he has worked with both cable and IPTV platforms and that, during his nine years at Chellomedia, he held non-executive roles with CTAM Europe and Anytime PTE, and an advisory role with African Trumpet Telecommunications of Nigeria. "Aleks brings a unique blend of insight and experience in on-demand television and is taking on a role right at the heart of our entertainment team," Cindy Rose, Virgin Media's executive director of TV, said in a prepared statement. "With 66 million views each month, Virgin Media's on-demand TV service is changing the way people watch TV and Aleks will help take our service forward and create a truly stand-out, differentiated proposition."
In other personnel news: Multiplatform music programmer, Music Choice, last week announced that it has appointed Moira Noriega as director of content. According to the company, she will oversee the development, creation and presentation of both professionally produced content and user-generated components (in both English and Spanish) on all Music Choice product platforms.
Noriega joins Music Choice from Hoodiny Entertainment Group, where she was director of production, overseeing the programming and production of domestic and international online content for MSN Music Portal and Cyloop.com. Prior to that, she worked at Fuse as supervising producer of original content and acquisitions for that company's Programming and Multiplatform departments. "Music Choice's product content strategy is always evolving and Moira is well-positioned to lead the team responsible for developing and managing content featured on our network's multiple platforms," Music Choice EVP, Christina Tancredi, said in a prepared statement. "We are always looking for new opportunities to engage and feature our audience in our programming, and Moira, as the new director of content for Music Choice, will help us integrate more user-generated content into our product plans going forward."
