David Coughtrie has been appointed Director of Distribution Partnerships (Pay TV), and Managing Director of the ITV-owned Freeview multiplex operator SDN.
Reporting to Group Strategic Partnerships and Distribution Director Martin Goswami, Coughtrie will lead ITV’s distribution strategy for its pay platforms. As MD, SDN, he will also have responsibility for the day-to-day management of and operational responsibility for the SDN business.
Coughtrie joins ITV from Discovery, where he was most recently Director of Distribution and Commercial Development. Prior to this he held various roles in distribution and business affairs at Discovery, the BBC and Turner Broadcasting.
Commenting on his appointment Coughtrie remarked he’d previously been a customer of SDN himself. “With the recent announcement of ITVX and the huge commitments to the content and the product, I look forward to working with our pay-TV partners to showcase the best of one the strongest and most unique broadcasters in the country.”
Coughtrie takes over the Managing Director role from Ross Appleton, who since May 2021 has been both Managing Director of SDN and Launch Director of ITVX.