Fremantle Australia taps four

Company announces new senior executives

By PAUL CHAI

SYDNEY -- FremantleMedia Australia, created through the merger of Fremantle's Aussie subsids Crackerjack and Grundy Television, has announced four new senior exec appointments.

Fremantle topper Mark Fennessy said the changes would allow the new group to focus on "creating and producing the very best content in the world."

Simon Fraser has been appointed to the newly created position of commercial director. He was previously general manager of Grundy Television.

Onetime Crackerjack topper of production Sara Horn will move into the new role of director of production, managing the merged slate for Fremantle.

Jason Stephens will head up development as director of development. Stephens previously produced made-for "The King -- The Graham Kennedy Story" for the Aussie production company. Chris Culvenor has been appointed director of digital media after previously looking after digital content for the Web sites for "Australian Idol" and "The Biggest Loser."

Fremantle announced in August that it would merge Grundy and Crackerjack to form FremantleMedia Australia.