Darren Childs

Darren Childs serves as Chief Executive Officer at UKTV Interactive. He also is an Angel Investor. Darren joined UKTV, the multi-award winning media company which reaches 42 million viewers per month, in September 2010 with the primary objective of driving the profitability and development of the multiplatform network. UKTV is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive. Darren's achievements for the network include positioning Dave as the UK's most watched non-PSB channel; delivering the most successful year in UKTV's 21 year history; achieving terrestrial levels of viewership in terms of SOCI (share of commercial impacts); the successful launch of brand new channel Drama, five new HD channels, and the network's VOD service, UKTV Play. In addition, Darren oversees the most watched channel in the Factual genre (Yesterday), the most watched channels in the Lifestyle genre (Pay and Free), and the creation of the number one programme in Pay TV, Dynamo: Magician Impossible, on Watch. Also, Darren announced the company's most recent financial results, which showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £278m. The results also revealed UKTV invested a record £125m a year in programming and related launches. UKTV is an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity. Darren is also at the forefront of UKTV's Video On Demand (VOD) strategy. He ordered the hugely successful launch of the broadcaster's first non-linear brand, UKTV Play, in 2014, which played a big part in the 639% increase in VOD use in the first half of the year (compared year-on-year with H1 2013). UKTV's channels were the first to join BT's television service, and are now a part of TalkTalk and YouView. In 2013, UKTV's full network of channels launched on Virgin TV Anywhere and its network of pay TV channels were made available on Sky On Demand and Sky Go with catch up and online VOD services. Before starting at UKTV, Darren was Managing Director of BBC Worldwide Global Channels, where he was responsible for growing and managing the BBC's extensive channels business, both domestically and internationally, as well as advertising sales across this portfolio and digital media. Under Darren's four year leadership, BBC Worldwide Channels achieved dramatic expansion and enjoyed its most successful year in 2009/2010, with record sales and profits. During this time, he was a member of BBC Worldwide's Board and Executive Committee Team, and also sat on the UKTV Board. Prior to BBC Worldwide, Darren was Senior Vice President, International Networks for Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), EMEA. Before that, he spent several years in Asia, first as Director of Programming for MTV Asia and then as Director of Business Development at Channel V (part of the STAR TV platform). He has also sat on the non-executive board for HBO Europe. His television career began as Head of Programming for BSkyB's The Power Station in 1989.