Malcolm Smith is retiring from Foxtel at the end of the month after 10 years with the pay-TV broadcaster and a lengthy career in production and as a film and TV executive.
“Subscription television is the most complex business I have ever worked in and we have achieved many significant breakthroughs in the delivery of entertainment in our relatively short history,” Smith said in a message to industry contacts.
Smith, who has served as advisor – office of the CEO at Foxtel since 2003, singled out two projects about which he was most passionate.
One is the Media Reconciliation Network Group, the first industry group of its kind in Australia. Formed in 2008, the group comprises broadcasters, newspapers, new media players, state and federal government media agencies, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, trade associations and guilds and media buyers. Its mission is to create opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in the media.
The other is Connecting to the Media Community, a program designed to ensure the history and development of subscription television in Australia is preserved in the national interest, a collaboration with the National Film and Sound Archive, AFTRS, the Australian Writers Foundation, the Sydney Film Festival and the Anderson Awards.
In a diverse career, Smith spent four years in the 1970s at the South Australian Film Corporation as production manager and executive producer and as first assistant/production manager on Ken Hannam’s Sunday, Too Far Away.
In 1978 he was named inaugural CEO of the Tasmanian Film Corporation, where he was executive producer on director John Honey’s feature Manganinnie.
In the 1980s he was the inaugural general manager- film development, at the Australian Film Commission.
Among his later roles, he was CEO of the Southern Star Group’s Southern Star Communications; general manager – production and business affairs at ABC TV drama; business development manager at Microsoft’s MSN; and general manager – business affairs, national networks, TV, radio and multimedia at the ABC.
He concluded, “This is not the big goodbye as I intend to stay active but I did want to thank you, my colleagues, for your friendship and support over the years.”