John Rossiter, Sony
John Rossiter, EVP of Distribution and Networks for Sony Pictures Television for Latin America, has been in his current position for about six or seven months, where he has responsibilities for the channels, film, and programming distribution businesses.
“It’s very exciting because it means bringing all these businesses together and working across the region, as well as maximizing the opportunity and finding new ways to grow and develop the business,” he commented.
Rossiter has been at Sony for 10 years, but in Europe, and prior to that, he was on HBO Europe for eight years. Only two weeks ago he moved to Miami.
He emphasized that there are no plans to launch a streaming service of their own. “A digital strategy is not just about launching streaming services. We are evaluating the ways in which we can update the reach of our channels to the consumer, how we can strengthen our digital presence on multiple platforms. There are a lot of digital improvements to come for the channels. Channels are important and crucial to us. They are the ones that show our business in a joint way: for cinema and for our content distribution business they are another platform. They allow us to commission new series, local series and are an integral part as we move more towards digital,” he said.
In this context, he informed that in a couple of months there could be announcements. In terms of sales, he commented that the most recent was the placement of seasons 2 and 3 of Cómo Sobrevivir Soltero on Amazon Prime Video. This series is a Campanario Entertainment and Addiction House production, distributed by Sony Pictures Television. Regarding content for distribution, they are promoting Fantasy Island that Fox broadcasts in the US and the co-production with Globo, Password to Freedom. In cinema, they released The Unholy and Don’t Breathe 2.
In general, the group’s channels -Sony and AXN- are doing well, Rossiter said. He added that in Colombia the channel is in the top 10 of TV signals, and also highlighted the good performance of Shark Tank Mexico and its Colombian version.
About Funimation, an anime OTT that is in the region, he could only say that the viewing of these contents is much higher in Latin America. “Anime is very popular in LatAm.” And as for the recent Crunchyroll acquisition, he said it’s still too early to talk about it.
