Freesat appoints launch marketing team

Freesat, the free-to-air satellite television service backed by the BBC and ITV, has boosted its marketing team ahead of its launch next year. It has appointed Richard Lindsay-Davies as commercial development director and former BSkyB marketer Will Abbott as brand marketing and communications director.

Lindsay-Davies will be responsible for leading all commercial and business development activity for Freesat. He was previously director general of industry body Digital Television Group, which promotes digital television in the UK. He has also worked across consumer electronics brands including Pace, Toshiba and Sony.

Abbott moves from Complan Foods, where he was UK commercial director. Previously, he was head of media planning at Sky and oversaw marketing campaigns for Sky Movies and Sky Box Office.

The pair will report to managing director Emma Scott, a former Freeview launch director who joined last month from the BBC.

It has appointed Chrysalis group finance manager Simon Winder as finance director and LG marketer James Atkins as marketing manager.

Freesat will offer up to 200 free-to-air standard and high-definition (HD) channels when it launches next spring. The service will target both the 27% of the UK population that are currently out of digital terrestrial coverage, the 5 million homes that still do not have a single digitally-enabled set and viewers looking for free high definition programmes.