It was to be the Latin American version of the Charles Dickens’ classic, a Tale of Two Cities. For Gustavo Lopez, vice president of Legal for Discovery Networks, Latin America and U.S. Hispanic, the discussion he was to lead at WorldCity’s Government Affairs Connections gathering on Feb. 26 was going to be about Buenos Aires and Bogota. More specifically, he wanted to talk about how utterly different was Discovery’s experience in working through knotty challenges with government regulation — this group might prefer the term intervention — in Argentina and… Read More
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Ioannou was promoted from MTV's government affairs position
Sofia Ioannou
MTV Latin America Managing Director
Sofia Ioannou has been named managing director of MTV Networks Latin America, based in Miami Beach, succeeding Pierluigi Gazzolo, who was recently appointed chief operating officer for MTV Networks International.
Previously Ioannou served as executive vice president of Business and Legal Affairs as well as general counsel for MTV Networks International and MTV Networks Latin America. Ioannou will report to Bob Bakish, president of MTVNI.
As managing director, Ioannou will be responsible for leading the business and creative development across all of the company’s brands, which include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite and Nick Jr. in Spanish-speaking Latin America; Viacom Networks Brazil, which operates Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr. and VH1 Brazil; and MTV Networks Digital Suite of services throughout the region.
With those responsibilities, she will oversee the company’s operations in Miami, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo as well as its sales and marketing office in Bogota, which opens this month. She will also have oversight of the newly established Buenos Aires Design Studio, which provides on-air creative and content to MTV and will support the company’s World Design Studio in Buenos Aires.
As executive vice president and general counsel, she oversaw MTV’s business and legal affairs groups internationally, including teams in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. She also worked closely with the business and legal affairs divisions at Viacom and MTV Networks U.S.
“Sofia has been an integral part of MTV Networks International for more than a decade and thus brings to this position a deep understanding of the company and its brands,” Bakish said. “Her expertise in business affairs and knowledge of the media industry coupled with her experience across all of MTVNI’s lines of business make her uniquely qualified for this position.”
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