Pay-TV broadcaster the Orbit Showtime Network has replaced its CEO, Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, with David Butorac, managing director of Australia’s WIN Corporation.
The appointment, which is with immediate effect, was made by Panther Media Group (PMG), the company operating the Orbit Showtime Network (OSN). It is not known why d’Halluin left, although a statement released by PMG said that it had been agreed by the company’s shareholders that d’Halluin would oversee the first phase of the integration of the two companies.
D’Halluin, a former chief executive of Canal Plus Nordic, had been CEO of Showtime Arabia since 2006 and remained as CEO of OSN following Showtime’s merger with Orbit last August.
Faisal Al Ayyar, chairman of the board at PMG, said: “We are delighted to have David join OSN as our new CEO. We feel OSN is now uniquely poised to experience substantial growth and we are delighted that David is bringing his global experience to lead our company into its next phase.”
Butorac’s career has included the positions of head of operations and station manager at the UK’s BSkyB and group chief operating officer at Astro, Malaysia’s largest broadcasting and cross-media company.
We have lived in Dubai for 10 years. Today we had our OSN satellite dish and box replaced. When the technicians left, they left the discarded satelitte dish. In contacting OSN offices here, they told me to throw it in the garbage as OSN does not take these dishes. What if every OSN customer discarded these unused dishes beside a dumpster? OSN is the major network provider for the UAE and other countries. I expect a more responsible attitude and will take this matter to the Dubai Police as well as newspapers if that is what it takes to have OSN ‘develop a policy’ for unused dishes.