MUMBAI: Bilingual French channel TV5Monde has appointed ex- RTL executive Yves Bigot as the new chief executive officer of the French language network after extensive consultations between its founding and shareholding governments.

Yves Bigot takes over from Marie-Christine Saragosse, who was appointed chairwoman and CEO for the holding company gathering the assets of the French government in French media broadcasting abroad, Audiovisuel Ext?rieur de la France.

Bigot was born in Limoges, France in 1955 and has made a career in the world of media and journalism since 1973 as a journalist, presenter, director, scheduler and producer for television, radio and the written press.

His past tenures include top management positions at music label Phonogram (now Mercury) from 1994-1997, French public TV broadcaster France2 from 1998-2005, Belgian public TV broadcaster RTBF from 2006-2008 and Endemol from 2008-2010.

Since August 2010, Bigot had been managing director for RTL.