Banijay-All3Media: Pedersen exits as Payne named sales chief

All3Media’s distribution chief Louise Pedersen has stepped down in the wake of the company’s merger with Banijay Entertainment.

Pedersen is exiting All3Media International with immediate effect, in a move that will see Banijay Rights’ chief exec Cathy Payne running the enlarged division.

Pedersen’s exit came just hours after All3 and Banijay confirmed their merger, and ahead of the sales division that she has run since 2016 being subsumed into Banijay Rights.

Both organisations will run separately in the immediate future until the formal integration kicks in later this year.

Distribution is one of the major areas of crossover between the two companies, with considerable overlap of roles between Banijay Rights and All3MI.

Pedersen had been instrumental in the growth of All3MI, overseeing franchises ranging from The Traitors and Gogglebox, to Midsomer Murders and All Creatures Great and Small.

Those shows and All3MI’s 30,000-hour catalogue will in time be brought into Banijay Rights, which already houses 235,000 hours of programming, ranging from Peaky Blinders and Survivor to MasterChef and SAS: Rogue Heroes.

Banijay Entertainment’s deputy chief exec – and former All3Media chief exec – Jane Turton said: “I very much look forward to working with Cathy as she brings the All3Media International and Banijay Rights businesses together.

“Cathy is a hugely experienced and respected strategic leader in the world of rights exploitation and it is an exciting time to be combining these two market leading companies and catalogues.”

Turton added: “Working with Louise has been a genuine pleasure. She has been a trusted colleague for many years and has led All3Media International with great creative and commercial judgement. Louise’s knowledge and expertise is immense, as is her passion for television. I would like to say a huge thank you on behalf of everyone across the business and wish her all the very best for the future.”

Pedersen’s next move is not yet known but added she is thinking about “the next challenge”.

She continued: “I am very proud of the business we have built and would like to thank everyone who has been a part of that, both in the UK and internationally.”

Payne added: “While the IP of course sits at the heart of the combination, for me it’s also about the people. In All3Media International and Banijay Rights, we have an exceptional breadth of talent and uniting them will deliver us quite possibly the strongest team in our space.

“While it will be some time until we are ‘one’, I am confident that we will be well-placed to continue delivering growth for the group at-large.”

Pedersen’s exit came shortly before news that All3Media’s group communications director Mike Large has also stepped down following the merger.

Former ITV exec Large had been with All3Media for six years, with Turton describing the well-liked comms chief as “an astute observer of trends in the sector and how to position All3Media to maximum benefit.”

She added: “His judgement is always spot on and his guidance to me and to the leaders of the business has been invaluable over the past years.

“Having Mike in the team has been a privilege – he has been a great colleague, and I would like to thank him on behalf of everyone across the business and wish him all the very best for the future.”