Epix appoints NBCU’s Dakss as digital chief

US premium cable channel Epix has hired Jonathan Dakss from NBCUniversal to fill a key digital post.

Dakss will become chief digital officer at the network, which is a joint venture between Viacom, its Paramount Pictures subsidiary, Lionsgate and MGM.

To this point, he has been VP, NBCU Media Labs. This saw him overseeing programmes focused on virtual reality and 360-degree video, social television and second screen discovery, metadata usage, real-time captioning and other duties.

At Epix, he will report into Rob Sussman, general manager and executive VP, business operations and strategy, and will be based in New York.

Besides NBCU, Dakss has run his own company, WatchPoint Media, which was sold to GoldPocket Interactive, where Dakss then sold digital video products to Comcast, Cablevision, Dish Networks and Time Warner Cable.

“Jonathan’s experience developing new revenue-generating products and business solutions at digital powerhouse NBCUniversal will be a great asset to the EPIX team,” said Rob Sussman. “We’re thrilled to have him join us to advance our leadership position and direct a digital team that has been at the forefront of TV Everywhere innovation, being the first cable network to launch on Xbox, PlayStation, Roku, and Android devices, as well as our recent launch of offline viewing on Android and iOS.”