MacLellan heading up new Comcast international unit

International television veteran Kevin MacLellan has been tasked with spearheading Comcast Entertainment Group's push into the global marketplace.

The move was announced Tuesday by Comcast Entertainment Group president Ted Harbert, to whom MacLellan will report.

As president of a newly created division, Comcast Entertainment Group International, MacLellan will oversee all of the group's entertainment properties in international territories. He has served as senior vp international at Comcast-owned E! Networks since 2001.

MacLellan's new role ex-pands beyond the television networks to include management of all new-media businesses, home video and DVD distribution outside the U.S. and licensing and merchandising. His previous international responsibilities included E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, Versus (formerly OLN) and G4.

"We're delighted to expand Kevin's role within the Comcast family," Harbert said. "Since joining E! Networks International in 2001, Kevin has revitalized and grown the international business of E! and Style, making the international group one of the most exciting, dynamic and rapidly expanding divisions within the company."

MacLellan said the new post is an opportunity to develop Comcast's international profile as a global content provider.

"Comcast is one of the largest entertainment companies in the world," he said, "yet overseas very few people have heard of (us) because almost all of the revenue comes from the U.S."

He pointed out that the more than 2,500 hours of programming produced each year by Comcast's E!, Style, G4 and Versus are fully owned by Comcast, which will give the group a big advantage in terms of expanding the content brand abroad.

"I am very proud of the work that my team and I have done to build and extend the E! and Style brands globally over the past several years — launching new channels, significantly increasing the international syndication business and producing some great international programming for local markets," MacLellan said. "I'm especially excited about the opportunity to develop Comcast's new-media businesses including online, mobile and VOD."

One of the achievements during MacLellan's tenure has been the launch of a fully dedicated international E! network. The E! International Network is available in more than 100 countries and has added more than 45 million subscribers during the past four years, translating to 35% of the global subscribers to the channel.

Before E! MacLellan served as vp international television networks at Columbia TriStar International Television in London, responsible for handling the company's channel investments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.