ITV has today announced that David Coughtrie has been appointed Director of Distribution Partnerships (Pay TV), and Managing Director of SDN, which is the multiplex operator owned by ITV, which operates one of the national multiplex licences in the UK on Freeview.

Reporting to Group Strategic Partnerships and Distribution Director Martin Goswami, David will lead on the execution of ITV's distribution strategy for specified pay platforms. As MD, SDN, he will also have responsibility for the day-to-day management of and operational responsibility for the SDN business.

David 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.

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.

As the Media and Entertainment (M&E) division accelerates towards a Q4 launch for ITVX, Appleton will now have an exclusive focus on ITVX Launch and Delivery, working closely with the M&E leadership team.

David said: "I am very excited to join ITV and SDN as both begin a hugely exciting chapter in their evolution. 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. I also feel privileged that having been one of SDN's clients I am now able to pick up the baton from Ross, and continue supporting and evolving our partnerships with DTT broadcasters who bring an unparalleled breadth and range of quality programming to the whole country for free."

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