Two Greek Australians are amongst the 75 most influential people in Australian television, according to an informal list compiled by a Fairfax Media panel of experts and released earlier last week.
Angelos Frangopoulos, CEO of Sky News, has found himself on the list of the most powerful players in the television industry, while director Peter Andrikidis made it to the list of the most influential artisans.
The list draws together the network bosses, the players, the indie producer partnerships, and the contract men, with the artisans, the deal-makers and the agents.
Topping the list was Richard Freudenstein, chief executive of Foxtel, followed by David Gyngell, Channel Nine chief executive, and the former Hollywood player who now controls Australia’s biggest regional TV network – Bruce Gordon, chairman of WIN Television.
With a 13-year-reign as chief executive of the Australian News Channel business under his belt, Angelos Frangopoulos, 48, now has another five separate channels under his control in Australia and New Zealand.
He oversees over 200 staff developing video content for a multitude of screens.
Mr Frangopoulos’ empire recently expanded, with his business taking over responsibility for Australia’s leading meteorological reporting service, The
Weather Channel, which was relaunched as Sky News Weather last year.
Having started his media career in the 1980s as a reporter at Prime News in Orange, Frangopoulos joined Australian News Channel soon after its inception in 1996 when he returned to Sydney from a stint at BSkyB in London.
Joining Frangopoulos on the list of the powerful players were Rikkie Proost, executive producer of My Kitchen Rules and Brian Walsh, director of television at Foxtel.
Director Peter Andrikidis, the pioneer who brought film-standard direction to the small screen, was amongst the most influential artisans in television industry, with his recent credits including Fat Tony & Co, Janet King and Serangoon Road.
Source: Fairfax Media.