National Indigenous Television (NITV) has made two new appointments to its leadership team, with Marissa McDowell and Rhanna Collins promoted to head of commissions and head of business and operations, respectively.
A proud Wiradjuri woman, McDowell joined NITV as commissioning editor in early 2021 and was previously acting as the head of the commissioning team.
During her time with the channel, she has overseen the delivery and development of documentaries, Black Empire, Sistas in Mining, and Un-Locked, which was part of the Curious Australia initiative, as well as documentary series, Our Law.
As part of her new role, she will manage NITV’s content slate across documentaries, drama, entertainment, and children’s programming.
Collins, a proud palawa woman, came to NITV in 2014, and most recently led NITV news and current affairs, overseeing daily news output and weekly current affairs show, The Point.
She was also involved in the launch of Australia’s first all-Indigenous breakfast TV show, Big Mob Brekky, as part of NAIDOC Week in 2020.
NITV general manager Peter Noble said the appointments came at a historic time.
“NITV is going from strength to strength, delivering outstanding programming and growing audiences,” he said.
“We’re reaching more Australians than ever with multiplatform content that champions First Nations voices, and the coming year will see us share our strongest ever collection of original content — our stories, in our hands, shared with everyone.
“It comes as we prepare to mark a major milestone — on 12 December, we’ll reach a decade of NITV being available free-to-air and to every Australian, as part of the SBS network. I look forward to working closely with Marissa, Rhanna, and the rest of the NITV team as we deliver even more for our communities, and all Australians.”