Shine gets Carter

Former FremantleMedia chief operating officer Gary Carter has resurfaced at News Corp’s Shine Group.

Gary Carter

Carter – who stepped down from Fremantle last year in the wake of the string of senior management changes that trickled down from RTL parent Bertelsmann – takes up a newly created post at Shine.

He will become chairman of Northern Europe and Shine 360° as of June 1, with a remit spanning Shine Germany, and the Nordic regions’ Metronome group of production companies in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Carter will additionally operate as a “strategic sounding board” to Shine off-air ancillary division Shine 360°. He will report to Shine Group CEO, Alex Mahon, and will travel between all offices from a base in Amsterdam.

“Gary is one of the most admired and respected figures in television production and he is a brilliant addition to our international team of creative leaders,” said Mahon. “He combines a creative heart with superb relationships and always approaches ideas with a global perspective.”

At Fremantle, Carter was responsible for leading the group’s business strategy, overseeing the group’s central ‘Creative Networks’ across all genres and platforms, founded the company’s central digital division, FMX (which was recently shut down), and managed its various European production operations.

He was also chairman of Ludia, the Canadian casual games company Fremantle bought into.

Prior to joining Fremantle in January 2005, having consulted for the company from 2003, he was executive director of programme affairs at Endemol International, overseeing the global roll-out of Big Brother. He also acquired production licenses in 14 European territories for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Carter said of his new post at Shine: “As an international group they remain forward-thinking and nimble, operating collectively at scale but with each company remaining distinctive, a strategy which is unique and essential in the current industry landscape.

“I greatly look forward to concentrating on vibrant markets within Northern Europe like Germany, and to reviving a professional relationship with the Nordic region that began in the mid-90s with the world premiere of Survivor!, and continued with the subsequent launch of Big Brother by the Metronome group.”