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Nippon revamps int’l arm

Atsushi Sogo (left) and Kenichi Hirose

Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV has promoted two executives as part of a rejig of senior management at its global business development arm.

Kenichi Hirose, a board director and Nippon’s former operating officer and finance chief, has now been appointed to oversee the broadcaster’s international business development division (IBD).

Hirose replaces Yoshio Nakayama, who has now become president of BS Nippon TV, a digital broadcast satellite operator. Hirose has been with Nippon since 1982 and will report to Yoshio Okubo, president and CEO.

Meanwhile, Atsushi Sogo has been appointed president for the global development arm, replacing Atsushi Hatayama who becomes board director of Television Iwate.

Sogo, who joined Nippon in 1985 and will now report to Hirose, previously held the position of executive VP of the IBD.

Nippon has enjoyed international success over recent years with an array of its dramas being remade abroad, including child abuse series Mother, which was recently picked up in Ukraine.

Sogo said the “tremendous growth over the last few years” was “steadily establishing” Nippon as “the go-to production powerhouse for top-notch Japanese content.”

“While sales of our anime and entertainment show formats, most prominent being Dragons’ Den in the UK and Shark Tank in the US, remain strong, our plan is to proactively seek new opportunities to deliver our high-quality content to more countries around the world,” Sogo added.

“We at Nippon TV are ready and willing to share the production expertise that have made us the ratings champion in Japan for four years running and welcome your interest in becoming our business partner.”

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