ViacomCBS UK Chief Operating Officer Paul Dunthorne Leaves After A Decade Helping Run Channel 5
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EXCLUSIVE: Paul Dunthorne, a Channel 5 veteran who joined as part of billionaire Richard Desmond’s takeover a decade ago, is leaving the UK network’s parent company ViacomCBS.
Dunthorne ran Desmond’s Portland TV and took Channel 5 under his wing after the business mogul acquired the broadcaster in 2010. He was promoted to Channel 5 chief operating officer in 2012 and then remained with the broadcaster after it was acquired by ViacomCBS in 2014.
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Dunthorne continued to progress within ViacomCBS, becoming the company’s COO and EVP UK of Northern and Eastern Europe. More recently, Dunthorne helped act up for James Currell, executive vice president and MD for the UK and Northern and Eastern Europe, after he left last year.
Maria Kyriacou, president of ViacomCBS Networks UK and Australia, said: “Paul has been integral to Channel 5’s successful reinvention in recent years and to the expansion and diversification of ViacomCBS’s operations in the UK and many other European territories. I’d like to thank him for everything he’s contributed and wish him every success in the future.”
Dunthorne’s departure follows months of movement among ViacomCBS’s international team. Kyriacou joined last October and was made UK and Australia president in January when David Lynn, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Networks International, reshuffled the division into two brand groups and three regional hubs.
In the UK, Channel 5 director of programs Ben Frow was elevated to ViacomCBS director of programs, while Jill Offman, the executive vice president of ViacomCBS International Studios UK, left after 12 years.
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