Maurice van Sabben has been appointed president of National Geographic Television International (NGTI) and will join the London-based office on the first of April. Reporting into Edward (Ted) Prince, chief operating officer of National Geographic Ventures (NGV), he will be responsible for overseeing the existing factual and kids’ program sales business. He will work closely with National Geographic Television while exploring new production financing opportunities and forging new production partnerships. Other duties will include driving National Geographic’s growing digital business outside of the U.S.
‘National Geographic is one of the world’s leading media brands and its strategic vision, combined with a focused mission that genuinely encourages people to care about the planet, makes it a very exciting and relevant company to be joining at this time,’ van Sabben comments. ‘I am delighted to be leading the NGTI team, selling high-quality factual programming the world over. It is great to be onboard for MIPTV. and I am looking forward to meeting many of our existing clients and business partners in Cannes.’
Van Sabben joins NGTI from IMG Media’s SNTV (Sports News Television). As commercial director, he was responsible for worldwide sales and business development, and also launched the company’s multi-platform products. Prior to that, he was senior commercial manager at Three U.K., where he was responsible for sourcing global content as part of the launch team of the world’s first 3G platform. He also spent three years at Jetix Europe (then Fox Kids Europe), where he was responsible for the company’s business development activities and strategies for interactive TV, online, mobile and games across 12 countries.
