Rumours TV behemoth Banijay/Endemol Shine wants Hugh Marks on board

Just weeks after his shock resignation from the top post at Nine, rumours are flying that a new TV production giant is looking to hire Hugh Marks, writes Annette Sharp.

Outgoing Nine boss Hugh Marks has been mooted as a possible future chief of the newly forged production giant Banijay/Endemol Shine.

The media company executive — who resigned from his post as Nine CEO on November 14 after confirming he was in a relationship with a newly departed subordinate — is said to be among short-listed candidates for the job of overseeing the newly-merged entity created earlier this year when French TV production company Banijay acquired one of Australia’s biggest production companies, Endemol Shine.

Outgoing CEO of Nine Hugh Marks. Picture: Jane Dempster

According to industry sources, Marks’ name was first talked about as being on the wishlist for the role months ago. He was asked for comment last night and his spokeswoman at Nine said that “it was absolutely not happening”.

French-headquartered Banijay has been busy recruiting Australian executives for the production giant, with Endemol Shine International CEO Cathy Payne signing on as CEO of Banijay Rights Ltd in April.

Brothers Mark and Carl Fennessy announced in September they were stepping down as joint CEOs of Endemol Shine. The company’s chief content officer Peter Newman has replaced them within that division.

Banijay’s acquisition of that company was finalised in July, creating a global production titan described as the largest TV producer outside the US, with programs including Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Survivor, Temptation Island, Big Brother, MasterChef, Deal or No Deal, Peaky Blinders and Broadchurch on the combined slate.

It comes eight years after Banijay acquired another local production company, Screentime, managed for the past year by Rory Callaghan following founder Bob Campbell’s retirement in January.