Sphere Abacus hires Mem Bakar to head sales as Ros Ali prepares to retire

UK-based Sphere Abacus has appointed Mem Bakar as its sales director for Germany, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States region.

Mem Bakar

Bakar, who was previously senior sales manager at Fred Meda, takes over from sales director Ros Ali, who is set to retire at the end of the month.

Hana Palmer, Sphere Abacus’s executive director global distribution and partnerships, said: “[Bakar’s] experience and long-held knowledge of the global market will be a great new addition to our sales team. This is also a perfect opportunity to publicly thank Ros for all her hard work and wish her the very best for the future.”

Meanwhile, buyers in CEE including Viasat World, LRT in Lithuania and TV Paprika have picked up a raft of titles from the UK-based distributor.

Viasat World acquired Murderer Behind the Mask, The A-Z Killer and West Harbour Heroes, while the Czech Republic’s Prima Group licensed titles including Fire Guardians: Final Flight, Across the Alps with Griff Rhys Jones, Shogun: The Hidden Story, The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs & Who has Control and Kevin McCloud’s Classic Car Road Trips.

RTV Slovenija picked up Kevin McCloud’s Classic Car Road Trips, Nordic Train at Christmas and Hollywood Crime Story: The Mob Takes Over The Movies, with LRT taking a raft of shows including Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster, Delivered to a Predator: Al Fayed’s Fixer, Marilyn & the Mob, Paid in Full: The Battle for Black Music and Life in Colour with David Attenborough.

In total, CEE buyers acquired over 200 hours of programming in this latest round of deals, according to Sphere Abacus, which is majority-owned by Canada’s Bell Media.