Nigel Pickard

Last updated

Nigel Pickard is a British television executive who oversaw the creation and launch of, amongst others, the BBC's children's channels, CBBC and CBeebies and as director of programmes at ITV, was responsible for commissioning some of the UK's most popular shows. He also worked for Zodiak Media, one of the largest independent producers in the world and is currently a Director of Nevision.

Contents

Career

Pickard started his career in the early 1970s, as a film editor and then as a Floor Manager, working on Thames Television's Armchair Thriller [1] and the children's series Worzel Gummidge for Southern Television. In 1981, he was made a director and worked on How and Runaround. In 1982, Pickard became a senior programme director of the children's department at the newly formed TVS, where his work included No73 and Art Attack . In 1986, he was appointed Controller of Children's and Family. [2]

When TVS lost its ITV contract, he moved to Scottish TV to be controller of entertainment and drama features. [3]

In 1994, he became Director of Programmes, and subsequently, General Manager, of The Family Channel in the UK, and he was at the forefront of the growth of multi-channel television in Britain. As Vice President, Production for Flextech he steered the development and launch of Challenge in 1997 and was responsible for all original production for the bouquet of Flextech channels including TCC, Bravo, Trouble, Living and Challenge.

Pickard joined ITV in 1998 as Controller of Children's and Youth Programmes, and was responsible for programme commissions, acquisitions and the schedule of CITV, developing the on-air brand, as well as the CITV website and channel. [2]

In 2000, he was appointed Controller of BBC Children's. [4] As well as commissioning and scheduling, he was responsible for overseeing the creation and launch of the two digital channels CBeebies and the CBBC Channel, which went on the air in February 2002. [5]

He returned to ITV in February 2003 as Director of Programmes, [6] [7] the most senior position at the broadcaster, where he was responsible for the scheduling and commissioning of the entire ITV output including The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, Dancing On Ice, Doc Martin, Wild At Heart, Parkinson, and Primeval amongst others.

After 3 successful years at ITV, Pickard joined RDF Media as Group Director of Kids, Family Entertainment and Drama in 2006. [8] At RDF, he oversaw commissions such as the CBeebies landmark series, Waybuloo, Mister Maker, Zack and Quack, Escape from Scorpion Island, Dani's House and Floogals .

When RDF Media was acquired by Zodiak in 2010, Pickard was appointed CEO of Zodiak Middle East, Asia and Australasia (overseeing group companies in the region) and CEO UK Kids and Family. He was also Chairman of the group's key creative committee, the International Entertainment Board.[ citation needed ]

Pickard announced he was leaving Zodiak in 2014, [9] [10] and re-joined David Frank and Matthew Frank at their new venture Dial Square 86 in November 2014, as a company director. [11] [12] [13] Dial Square 86 is a next-generation content group that launched in October 2014 announcing the acquisition of Red Hare Digital - a YouTube talent management agency working with fashion & beauty bloggers - and the intention of investing in and acquiring other companies that create, enhance and exploit content online and on TV. [14] [15] [16]

In June 2015, Dial Square 86 announced the creation of The RightsXchange (TRX), [17] an online marketplace for TV rights. [18] [19] Pickard was announced as President of the new venture. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Two</span> Television channel operated by the BBC

BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream and popular BBC One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC One</span> British television channel

BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, primetime drama and entertainment, and live BBC Sport events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Television</span> Television service of the British Broadcasting Corporation

BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBeebies</span> British childrens television network broadcast internationally

CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel, CBBC, is aimed at older children aged 6 to 12. It broadcasts every day from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, timesharing with BBC Four.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Children's and Education</span> Division responsible for media content

BBC Children's and Education is the BBC division responsible for media content for children in the UK. Since the launch of specially dedicated television channels in 2002, the services have been marketed under two brands. CBBC is aimed at children aged between 6 and 12, and CBeebies offers content for younger viewers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living TV Group</span> British television broadcaster, 1990–2011

Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge still broadcasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CITV</span> British free-to-air TV channel for children

CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and previously a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged 6–12. It replaced the earlier Watch It! branding and introduced networked in-vision continuity links between programmes. These links were originally pre-recorded from a small London studio up until 1987, when Central won the contract to produce live links from their Birmingham studios. In 2004, presentation of CITV was relocated to Granada Television in Manchester, which saw the demise of in-vision continuity. Nine years later, the operations moved to ITV Granada's MediaCityUK studios in Salford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Deverell</span>

Richard George Deverell became Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in September 2012. He was previously Controller of CBBC, the department within the BBC responsible for output aimed at children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Maidstone Studios</span> Television studio complex in Kent, England

The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the largest independent television studio complex in the United Kingdom, and is based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent, England. It has been home to a varied selection of independent British television programming including Later... with Jools Holland, Jools' Annual Hootenanny, Take Me Out, Catchphrase, as well as popular children's shows such as Mister Maker and Let's Play for CBeebies, or Art Attack for TVS and later for ITV and Disney Channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Carrington (television executive)</span> Australian television executive (born 1961)

Michael Andrew Carrington, is an Australian broadcast media executive who is currently Director, Entertainment and Specialist at the ABC based in Sydney, New South Wales. He oversees all national radio, television, and digital services including ABC TV (ABC1), ABC TV Plus (ABC2), ABC Me, ABC Kids plus ABC iview, ABC Listen, ABC Kids Listen, ABC Classic FM, ABC Jazz, ABC Country, and Radio National.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBBC</span> British free-to-air childrens television channel

CBBC is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister channel, CBeebies, is aimed at younger children aged 6 and under. It broadcasts every day from 7:00am to 7:00pm, timesharing with BBC Three.

Mister Maker is a British children's television series produced by RDF Media /The Foundation for CBeebies. The series aired from September 17, 2007 until December 25, 2009.

Kindle Entertainment is an independent television production company based in London, England. Kindle Entertainment was formed after ITV Kids was closed, and current personnel includes Anne Brogan, the former controller of ITV Kids, and former head of development at ITV Kids, Melanie Stokes. The company is currently owned by Banijay, via its Banijay UK Productions subsidiary.

Throughout the years, Children's BBC, and later CBBC and CBeebies, have used a number of different identities. The branding of the stranded service is distinctive both in the past and at present.

Banijay S.A. is a French multinational television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 130 production companies across 21 territories, and a multi-genre catalogue containing over 180,000 hours of original programming. Headquartered in Paris, the company was founded in January 2008 by Stéphane Courbit, former president of Endemol France, and has risen since its inception, to become a €3.2bn turnover business. It is currently a subsidiary of FL Entertainment N.V., based in Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Frank (media executive)</span> British media executive (1958–2021)

David Frank was the CEO of Dial Square 86 and the chairman of The RightsXchange, which is an online marketplace for TV rights. He was the founder of RDF Media and the onetime CEO of Zodiak Media SA. He was also Chairman of Mint Digital, a digital product development studio in London and New York, and Objekt Films, a London-based film and video content creation company.

Matthew Frank is a British television executive who is currently CEO of The RightsXchange, a new online marketplace for secondary TV rights. Matthew was formerly the CEO of RDF Rights and of Zodiak Rights and is also a company director of Dial Square 86

This is a timeline of the history of non-flagship BBC television channels, i.e., BBC channels that have initially appeared on cable or satellite or digital television. The list excludes events from BBC One and BBC Two, unless they also relate to one of the other channels.

This is a timeline of children's programming on the British ITV network and ITV Digital Channels. The timeline starts in 1980 when ITV launched its first branding for children's programming, although programmes for children had been broadcast on ITV from the earliest years of the network.

References

  1. ↑ "J. Nigel Pickard". IMDb.
  2. 1 2 "PROFILE: Coming of age - Nigel Pickard, Director of programmes, ITV".
  3. ↑ "Nigel Pickard". Archived from the original on 13 January 2012.
  4. ↑ Wilkes, Neil (4 June 2000). "Nigel Pickard joins BBC". Digital Spy.
  5. ↑ "BBC - Press Office - Press Release - CBBC - Digital channels launch". www.bbc.co.uk.
  6. ↑ "ITV reclaims Pickard".
  7. ↑ "ITV names Nigel Pickard as director of programmes".
  8. ↑ "Press Release: RDF hires ITV Director of Programmes, Nigel Pickard". 3 January 2006. Archived from the original on 8 November 2006. Retrieved 3 June 2007.
  9. ↑ "Banijay Group - We are Banijay". Banijay Group.
  10. ↑ "Nigel Pickard leaves Zodiak | Page 263442". TBI Vision. 16 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "Meet the people behind the company — Dial Square 86". dialsquare86.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Dickson, Jeremy (15 August 2014). "Nigel Pickard resurfaces at new prodco Dial Square 86". Kidscreen. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Franks, Nico (15 August 2014). "Pickard joins new Frank prodco". C21. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Dams, Tim (18 November 2014). "David Frank turns up the Dial". Televisual. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  15. ↑ Clarke, Stewart (27 October 2014). "New World Order". Television Business International. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  16. ↑ Webdale, Jonathan (7 November 2014). "Duffen calls up Dial Square". C21. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  17. ↑ "The RightsXchange". The RightsXchange. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  18. ↑ "David Frank's Dial Square launching virtual market". 18 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015. Dial Square 86, the media investment company run by David and Matthew Frank, is launching a digital platform that will allow distributors and buyers to work together within a new 'virtual market'.
  19. ↑ "Dial Square 86 preps online content marketplace" . Retrieved 19 June 2015. Dial Square 86, the latest business venture from former Zodiak Media Group executives David and Matthew Frank, is unveiling its RightsXchange (TRX) platform.
  20. ↑ "Our Team". Dial Square 86. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "David Frank's Dial Square launching virtual market". 18 June 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015. Dial Square chiefs and seasoned distribution execs David and Matthew Frank and Nigel Pickard will run TRX.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.