Roberta Allan.
The ABC has named Roberta Allan as the new head of content curation and distribution in the entertainment and specialist division, managing the delivery of Australian content across multiple channels and platforms.
The seasoned programmer comes from BBC Studios, where she is head of advertising and programming for factual and kids content in Australia and New Zealand.
In that role she oversees BBC Earth, CBeebies and BBC Brit channels and, in an acting capacity, the channels’ brand partnerships and commercial advertising.
Starting at the ABC in November, she will be responsible for the distribution of all ABC non-news content and acquisitions on platforms including ABC TV, ABC iview, ABC Listen and on social media.
Since Rebecca Heap departed as head of distribution, entertainment and specialist, in 2018 a number of people have been acting in the role.
Michael Carrington, director entertainment and specialist, said Roberta’s expertise will help guide the ABC’s transition towards digital services under its Five-Year Strategy Plan.
“Roberta has an excellent track record of success over 15 years in the media industry, including a deep involvement with broadcasting across Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
“She has great expertise in innovative programming and multichannel management. I am particularly excited to work with Roberta in building on the success of ABC iview and ABC Listen, and confident that she will lead our content curation and distribution teams with passion and verve, particularly for our digital audiences.”
Allan said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the ABC. It is a unique opportunity to be able to work across so many platforms and with such amazing content.”
Her previous roles at BBC Studios ANZ included head of acquisitions and head of programming for UKTV, BBC First, BBC Knowledge and CBeebies.
Earlier in her career she served as programming manager for the channels TV1 and SF Australia.