MUMBAI: Television production firm TWI has secured the services of the Nine Network's former head of entertainment Glenn Pallister to grow its production business in Australia and New Zealand.
Pallister joins TWI Australia on 24 October as director of programmes and content creation. He comes with a wealth of experience and relationships in content production, both in the entertainment and sports fields, gleaned after 22 years at Nine.
He was a cameraman before switching to a production career that encompassed several of Australia's lynchpin entertainment shows and specials including executive producing the series The Footy Show. Pallister will be based in Sydney where he will be responsible for expanding TWI's production output in the region across all genres and platforms, at a time when TWI is already busy making preparations as host broadcaster for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
TWI senior VP, production and business development Alastair Waddington said, "I am delighted to welcome someone of Glenn's calibre and reputation to TWI. He really does understand and have a passion for content production from every angle, having worked his way up through the ranks at Nine. I know he will make a great contribution to TWI's business aspirations for the future as we continue to develop our activities across the world."
Pallister said: "I was lucky enough to receive offers from several other companies but I am thrilled to be joining TWI whom I've long admired for their professionalism and expertise. I spent many happy years at Nine, working on some fabulous programmes but this is a great opportunity to create something new in a very fertile and exciting environment."
Pallister joined Channel Nine straight from school where he enrolled as a trainee cameraman, working on numerous cricket series, MTV concerts and eight seasons of Ray Martin's midday show, where he won a Penguin Award for excellence. He then moved into production including Wide World of Sports, and The Footy Show from its 1995 debut until 2004 when he was appointed Nine's Network Head of Entertainment. He was responsible for a portfolio which also included This is Your Life, Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, Comedy Inc and special outside broadcasts like the Logies. He also co-created and developed Celebrity Circus and Skating on Thin Ice, and was responsible for Nine Network's participation in the Tsunami Relief Concert and Telethon.
TWI is the television, broadcast and new media arm of sports marketing agency IMG, which was acquired last year by Forstmann Little. It claims to be the world's largest independent producer, packager and distributor of sports programming, producing more than 6,000 hours and distributing nearly 9,000 hours of live events and original programming each year, across 200 countries and covering more than 240 sports.
