Discovery promotes Lydia Fairfax with charge to develop streaming relationships

Discovery has announced the promotion of Lydia Fairfax to the role of SVP, head of commercial partnerships for EMA and commercial development UK & Nordics.

In this new position, Fairfax will be tasked with leading the development of commercial partnerships in EMEA with a specific focus on the recently launched streaming service Discovery+.

Based in London, Fairfax is an industry veteran with over 18 years of experience in working across the media sector. A former lawyer, she joined Discovery in 2012 as a director, legal for EMEA distribution. She also spent 18 months overseeing the launch of Discovery’s free-to-air channel DMAX in Turkey.

Fairfax will report to Kasia Kieli, president and managing director for EMEA, who said: “Lydia Fairfax is a fantastic leader and negotiator and she has great experience in managing complex transactions with stakeholders across various jurisdictions. She has an impressive track record and has been involved in many of our most innovative partnerships across EMEA. We are delighted to have her as part of our leadership team.”

Fairfax said: “My priority is to deepen the relationship with our partners and to structure deals where both parties work together to bring the most value to consumers by offering them the best of our linear channels supplemented by the deeper and more immersive complementary offering that discovery+ can offer. This requires a totally new way of working together, and that is what is so exciting with this role and the transformation that this industry is going through.”