The recently merged Southern Cross Media (SCM) and Austereo conglomerate has announced its new sales structure, with SCM's sales boss Jeremy Simpson taking on the lead role.
Simpson was previously group national sales director for SCM's national sales arm Regional Mediaworks, and has now been appointed as director of sales for the combined television and radio group. He will report directly to SCM chief executive Rhys Holleran.
Meanwhile, Austereo national sales director Cathy Thomas has been appointed as national sales director of radio within the newly merged group. She reports to director of metro radio Guy Dobson.
Holleran said: "These sales appointments are very exciting for our new business and I couldn’t ask for two better people in Jeremy and Cathy, to lead the merging of the National Sales teams. The unified forces of Southern Cross and Austereo sales teams will over time allow us to deliver to our clients an even more integrated offering across our markets and stations."
Simpson is responsible for national television revenue, and will work closely with Thomas, whose role has been expanded beyond Austereo to cover national sales for SCM's metro and regional stations. The two sales heads are currently working on the merging of SCM and Austereo's national sales teams.
The new sales structure is the latest in a string of restructures within the merged company, which is currently undergoing an integration process. Earlier this month, AdNews revealed exclusively that Austereo's marketing boss Nikki Clarkson has been appointed as head of marketing and communucations at SCM.
At the beginning of May, it was revealed that Austereo chief executive Guy Dobson would be SCM director of metro radio, answering directly to SCM chief executive Rhys Holleran. Austereo executive chairman Peter Harvie is helping with the transition process while SCM chairman Max Moore-Wilton will remain in his role.
Austereo head of content Craig Bruce will be head of content across both metro and regional assets; while SCM head of content Ben Parsons will remain in a senior position under a different title.
Other senior roles are still to be announced. Redundancies are a certainty, but it is unclear who exactly will be made redundant.
At the beginning of the year, AdNews revealed exclusively that Austereo’s majority shareholder Village Roadshow was in talks regarding the sale of its 51% share in the company. SCM made a $741 million bid at the end of January, with the deal being finalised in mid April.
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