Simon Cowell’s TV Head Exits for ITV Studios UK Role

LONDON – The head of television at Simon Cowell's Syco TV Shu Greene has been lured to ITV Studios U.K. to take on the newly-created role of director of entertainment, ITVS.

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Greene’s exit from Cowell’s clutches is a coup for ITV Studios U.K., the commercial web ITV’s high-profile production arm.

Returning to ITV, Greene is tasked with creating and delivering entertainment programming for both ITV and non-ITV channels.

Greene said: “After almost a decade working alongside Simon Cowell, the most amazing producer and on-screen talent I have ever met, I felt this was the right moment to step into my own light."

Reporting to ITV Studios U.K. managing director Denise O’Donoghue and ITV Studios managing director Kevin Lygo, Greene will lead ITV Studios’ ambition to be the home for the best talent both on-screen, in development and production.

O’Donoghue said Greene’s hire encapsulated the desire to bring in the best talent to ITV Studios to help “turn” the arm’s creative business around.

“Great shows are about origination and delivery and she is an expert in both,” O’Donoghue said.

“Her [Greene’s] relationships with many of the biggest names on screen speak to her standing in the business and the respect for which she is renowned.”

Lygo added: “Shu [Greene] has been at the heart of making the X Factor and the Got Talent franchises the global success they are today. The creation of brand new entertainment formats for U.K. and international audiences is a crucial part of our strategy; Shu’s creative and production expertise will be an enormous asset for ITV Studios as we move into the next phase of the transformation plan.”

Greene joined Syco TV at its inception in 2004 working closely with Cowell in the creation, commission and execution of all of Syco’s content including The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent and was the executive producer of the X Factor USA overseeing the show’s high-profile launch on the Fox Network.