Linda Jensen, CEO of HBO Europe, announced that she will be leaving at the end of the year. Hervé Payan, currently CEO of HBO Nordic, will become CEO, HBO Europe, consolidating HBO Nordic, HBO Netherlands and HBO Europe on January 1, 2016.

“This reorganization brings together a wealth of exceptional abilities and experience. The European television business is evolving quickly and we will be well positioned to take advantage of all opportunities that emerge,” said Payan.

The senior management team reporting directly to Payan are: Line Mykland, COO & EVP, Nordic; Ondrej Zach, COO & EVP, Central Europe; Antony Root, EVP Original Programming and Production, HBO Europe; Christina Sulebakk, EVP of Marketing, HBO Europe; Gordon Finlayson, General Counsel, HBO Europe and Szilveszter Palvolgyi, CFO, HBO Europe.

Meanwhile, as we reported several months ago, HBO Europe will launch Golden Life, a family crime drama based on a DRG-distributed Finnish format, in early November, and plans to ramp up the number of originals coming out of its Hungarian base.

Speaking ahead of a screening of Golden Life (Aranyélet) in Budapest, HBO Hungary executive producer Gabor Krigler said that having looked to source drama ideas from international markets, its development slate now comprises original projects developed locally.

He added that from 2017, the Hungarian arm of HBO Europe aims to launch two original dramas per year.