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Carrington exits BBC for Turner

Turner Broadcasting has poached BBC Children’s veteran Michael Carrington as its chief content officer, replacing Finn Arnesen, who left the company last October.

Carrington (left) will be responsible for the development and creation of all original series, coproductions and programme acquisitions for Turner Broadcasting’s children’s channels in the UK and EMEA, including Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Cartoonito.

He replaces Finn Arnesen, who left Turner at Mipcom last year. C21 broke the news in September.

Carrington joined BBC Children’s in January 2004 as head of acquisitions and animation. He was appointed controller of CBeebies in May 2006 and is behind commissions such as Charlie and Lola, In the Night Garden and Big & Small. He was also responsible for all commissioning and led the transformation of CBeebies into a multimedia brand.

Carrington steps down from his role as controller of CBeebies on February 26 and will join Turner on April 6. Tina McCann, who has been caretaking the CCO role on an interim basis, will continue with Turner until Carrington joins.

The move will come as a blow to BBC Children’s. Carrington had been expected to move to the Beeb’s new centre in Salford, Manchester, to help lead the department under new controller Joe Godwin.

Turner Broadcasting president Jeff Kupsky said: “We are delighted to have made such an outstanding appointment to this role. Michael has impeccable credentials as a commissioner and creative leader from both the public and private sectors and is considered one of the leading experts in children’s television. I am thrilled he’s joining us and very much look forward to welcoming him to the Turner team.”

Carrington said: “CBeebies is in great shape and I’ve loved every minute of my time working here with a great team of talented people. Now feels like the right time for me to return to the commercial sector.”

Carrington has also served as head of television and new media at Create TV and Film and spent his early career at Network Ten in Australia.

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