Amy Jo Smith
July 30, 2018
The Digital Entertainment Group Europe (DEGE) July 30 announced a new board of directors, in addition to implementing a DEG Nordic Committee in association with the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) to support the growth of the digital entertainment market in that region.
Digital Entertainment Group Europe (DEGE) is the pan-European industry association focused on home entertainment. Members include 20thCentury Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, HBO Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, Paramount Home Media Distribution, Dolby, TiVo, Sony DADC and Technicolor.
Doug Fox, VP, director of sales at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, and Nicola Pearcey, president of distribution at Lionsgate U.K., are co-chairs of the new board.
Amy Jo Smith, president and CEO of sister organisation DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group in the United States, will also be an officer to the revamped DEGE board.
Jonathan Beardsworth, VP, sales and marketing at Technicolor, has stepped down from the DEGE board.
“Warner Bros. has been an active partner of the DEGE for a long time now and we have watched the organisation grow in both stature and output to the point that it now acts as an arbiter of cross-territory impetus and direction,” co-chair Fox said in a statement.
“The DEGE has worked hard to deepen its involvement across territories and to the benefit of our local businesses,” added Pearcey. “The fact that we are now able to welcome Warner Bros. to the top table lends credence to that and is further evidenced by the fact that Amy Jo will also be joining as supporting officer.”
The new DEG Nordic Committee will operate as a hub for the funding and execution of projects designed to drive consumer engagement with digital transactions in a region that boasts some of the most advanced digital infrastructure in the world.
The DEGE will also provide the framework for project development to assist the committee, with confirmed activity to include the development of a local digital sales tracker with research firm GfK and the development and execution of an education-based campaign to promote digital consumption of entertainment titles to consumers.
The committee includes representatives from NBC Universal, Nordisk Film, SF Studios, Fox, Warner Bros. and Disney, with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment participating through its membership to BASE.
Peter Paumgardhen, managing director of Fox Home Entertainment Scandinavia, will chair the committee, with Johan Mannerhill, managing director of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group Scandinavia and Adrian Mandrup, Nordisk Film’s president ofNordic Sales – digital, home entertainment, TV & consumer, jointly acting as deputy chair. Paumgardhen will also take a seat on the DEGE board.
“My colleagues and I have been watching with interest as the DEGE has increasingly and proactively driven the conversation around championing the home entertainment category,” said Paumgardhen. “By ensuring a clarity of collaboration and communication across a range of issues, the organisation has added clear value and so it was a very easy decision to work with the DEGE board to develop and steer the Nordic committee.”