Tim Christlieb has been named as the new Director of Channels for BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) Australia and New Zealand.
His appointment follows a review which abolished the role of Director of Television ANZ held by Natalie Edgar, who is leaving the company in mid-August.
Christlieb will lead programming and acquisitions across BBCWW's portfolio of locally managed channels: BBC First, BBC UKTV, BBC Knowledge, BBC CBeebies in Australia; and BBC UKTV and BBC Knowledge in New Zealand.
He joined in May 2012 as Head of Programming and Production and became Head of Channels in October 2013. Previously he was BBCWW's London-based Head of Scheduling for the Nordics and Italy for two years.
Before that he was Head of UK Channel Operations at MTV Networks and Deputy Head of Entertainment at Gateway Broadcast Services.
Edgar joined BBCWW in January 2014 after serving as Deputy Controller of ABC1 for six years. As Director of Television ANZ she oversaw local content expenditure and format production, as well as programming and acquisitions across the portfolio of channels.
She designed the channels’ programming and acquisitions strategy and was instrumental in the launch of BBC First last August. She oversaw local content expenditure, sourcing potential productions from producers across Australia and New Zealand. She also managed its relationship with FremantleMedia Australia across format productions including Coast Australia for the History Channel and Living With The Enemy for SBS.
BBCWW ANZ MD Jon Penn said: "Tim has a real flair for programing and channel strategy, so I’m pleased that he has agreed to permanently take on leadership of the team in the new structure. It is however, with regret that we have to lose Natalie, whose editorial skill, leadership and passion for television will be missed."