Middle East Distributor Front Row Hires Former NBCUniversal Exec Carine Chaiban

Andreas Wiseman

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Middle East and north Africa distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has hired former Director, Sales Liaison at NBCUniversal MENA Carine Chaiban as its Senior Director of Non-Theatrical Sales.

Chaiban’s primary mandate will be to bolster TV sales whilst also overseeing the post-theatrical process for the company. She will report directly to COO Nicolas Torloting and CEO Gianluca Chakra.

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Chaiban started her career at Orbit Communication Company where she was eventually promoted to Acquisitions Manager. She then moved on to local provider of IP video products INTIGRAL where she served as Director of Programming and Acquisitions and oversaw the launch of Saudi Telecom Company’s IPTV and OTT Service Invision. In October 2013, Chaiban joined Universal’s international TV Distribution division as Director, Sales Liaison before moving on to local SVOD player iFlix as Head of Content where she was also overseeing the development of iFlix originals.

“I’ve known Gianluca for quite a long time and was very impressed with the way Front Row grew over the past 15 years. The company has proven itself to be a leader in the market thanks to its innovative and disruptive distribution tactics, having pioneered the post-theatrical industry in the Middle-East. All of these factors played a big part in my decision to join the team,” stated Chaiban.

She continued, “With the emergence of more and more international platforms, the TV business is facing a lot of challenges both locally and globally. The need to stay ahead of the curve is now more important than ever and I am confident that Front Row is more than well equipped to deal with the challenges ahead and to further emphasize itself as a leader in the industry.”

Chakra added, “We are very excited to have Carine join Front Row. With her ample background in both acquisitions and sales for TV, Carine’s unique experience gives her and subsequently Front Row a 360 degree view of the entire post-theatrical window.”

Front Row has a joint venture with international sales outfit Rocket Science called Yalla Yalla, a Dubai based film and TV company focused on Arabic-language content. This year the company hired former Disney exec Nicolas Torloting as its COO and former Head of Digital & Publicity at Empire International Eli Touma as Marketing & Acquisitions Director. This followed the hire of Micallar Walker-Smith, former Head of Events at Picturehouse UK, as Marketing Manager.

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