p36-42,44,46,48 Euro 50 Muss-Wald NovDec08v5 7/11/08 13:39 Page 42
Euro 50 > Leaders in broadband and pay-TV Digital TV Europe
November/December 2008
Paul Robinson Managing director, worldwide, KidsCo
KidsCo has already established itself as one of chain end-to-end including formatting, dubbing
the leading global children’s channels since and non-linear KidsCo video-on-demand serv-
launching in September last year. Taking on ices. In marketing Louise Butt and her group
the likes of Disney and Nickelodeon, Paul have built a 12-language website, worked on
Robinson has overseen the channel rolling out affiliate marketing projects with our customers
in more than 40 countries, localised into 12 ranging from family days out to book store
languages. promotions and secured great PR working
with Braben our retained agency. It has been
Age 45 quite an amazing 12 months!
Education BSc Hons in metallurgy from Reflections on the downturn We live in tur-
Manchester University; MBA with distinction bulent times and it would be naïve to think
from Bradford University Management Centre. that the storm clouds will not have an impact.
We are not complacent and we are taking
Years in industry 25 steps but that said we are a lean, highly effi- Chronicles on Virgin 1 (in the UK) has been
cient operation and are well positioned for any excellent and certainly worthy of the three
Job description My role at KidsCo is to set tough times. Historically pay-TV has weathered Arnie theatrical movies.
the direction for the business, to define goals, economic downturns extremely well. As peo-
work with my team to achieve them and ulti- ple cut back on luxury goods they tend to Little-known fact I used to hate sport and
mately to create shareholder value. I am the focus more on in-home entertainment, in exercise as a child and was actually quite
team leader. Everyone at KidsCo is highly com- which television is in the prime position. chubby, even fat up to about 18. Now I get
mitted and passionate about the business. I KidsCo is not reliant on advertising so we are withdrawal symptoms if I don’t get onto the
hope that I engender that and lead from the quietly confident, although constantly vigilant. treadmill and have been exactly the same
front. On paper I am managing director world- weight for the last 15 years
wide, but I think that sounds a bit too manage- Positive thoughts for 2009 I think that
rial! 2009 is going to be a tough year, but I hope Life outside work Although I do a lot of fly-
that we will reach the bottom of this current ing for business, I love travelling to the more
Last year’s highlights KidsCo launched on cycle and maybe start to see some upward remote and exotic places in the world. Brazil
air just over a year ago (September 2007) and movement. I think if house prices cease falling and China (excluding Hong Kong) are at the
in that time has grown to broadcast to children and retail prices stabilise, that will help to bring top of my wish list, as are Cambodia and
and their families in more than 40 countries in back the feel-good factor. For KidsCo, 2009 is Vietnam.
12 languages. We started in central and east- going to be the year we launch in many of the
ern Europe with Poland, Hungary, Romania major western European markets. The team
and Turkey, adding Russia, Ukraine, the Middle are already excited and energised about this Manuel Rosa da Silva
East, and sub-Saharan Africa. In March/April, next phase of growth and we are in for anoth-
KidsCo launched into Asia including the er busy and exciting year ahead. COO, Portugal Telecom
Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore and South
Korea adding Palau, Papua New Guinea, Personal aims for the year ahead I am Manuel Rosa da Silva has been instrumental
Cambodia and Thailand. Early this summer we going to aim to ensure that we meet our busi- in building the new TV strategy for Portugal
added Spain and in the autumn Germany, with ness objectives whilst keeping the team Telecom. After successfully launching its Meo
further launches expected in the next few focussed and happy. And I intend to keep IPTV service, which reaches over 200,000
months. As well as expanding geographically, going to the gym because we have become a subscribers, Portugal Telecom was the first
Eileen McCarthy, our programme director, and business that enjoys regular impromptu office telco in Europe to launch a satellite service to
the team have enhanced our content by sign- parties to celebrate birthdays, always with complement the DSL-based IPTV service and
ing great programming deals with respected cake and champagne! expand subscriber reach. It also plans to
producers from Decode of Canada to The launch new interactive services soon. The
Wiggles from Australia, Iconix from South Favourite TV show I love Strawberry telco attracted 84,000 new subscribers dur-
Korea and BBC Worldwide. On air, we have got Shortcake, Babar and Curious George as far as ing the third quarter of this year and is aim-
better and better with wonderful creative and kids programming goes. At home I have really ing for a total of 300,000 subscribers by the
fresh new productions. Sara Wookey, director enjoyed Bruce Parry’s Amazon from the BBC end of the year. Portugal Telecom was also
of broadcast and her team led the launches and Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives awarded a pay-TV licence for the country's
operationally and have managed the value continue to deliver. The Sarah Connor digital-terrestrial network earlier this year.
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