Thom Beers Named CEO of FremantleMedia North America
Thom Beers, the producer responsible for such reality hits as "Deadliest Catch" and "Ice Road Truckers," has been named CEO of FremantleMedia North America.
Wednesday's announcement, which had been widely expected, places Beers in charge of Fremantle's management and business performance, as well as the development, production and operations of more than 600 hours of programming, including "American Idol" and "The X Factor."
He is currently the CEO and executive producer at FremantleMedia-owned Original Productions.
Based in Los Angeles, he will report directly to Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of FremantleMedia, who was previously the CEO of FremantleMedia North America.
"Thom Beers has a creative vision that has placed Original Productions, the company he founded, at the forefront of the industry," said Frot-Coutaz on a statement. "Thom's multi-award winning combination of experience, innovation and expertise has made Original a dominant force on US primetime cable networks, and as an existing member of the FremantleMedia family he has a deep knowledge of our people, our company and our operations around the world. Thom is the perfect choice to take the helm of FMNA as it continues to grow, and we are very pleased that he has agreed to build on his successful leadership of Original and take on responsibility for FMNA."
Added Beers: "I'm very excited to be taking on the challenge of leading FremantleMedia North America. FMNA has an unrivalled position in the largest television market in the world, creating some of the best loved, most successful television shows on the planet. ... I look forward to working closely with FremantleMedia's partners and to building on the considerable successes of FMNA."
Original Productions has won won six Prime Time Emmy Awards and received 24 Emmy nominations. It has created shows for networks including Discovery, History, The National Geographic Channel, A&E Network, Spike TV, truTV, and IFC.
FremantleMedia acquired a 75 percent stake in Original in 2009.
Prior to founding Original Productions, Beers served as a production executive and series and specials producer for 11 years at Turner Broadcasting. He later held a similar position at Paramount syndicated television in Los Angeles.
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