IPC’s TV Listings Sector Gets New MD

IPC Media’s TV weekly magazines sector, IPC TX, has gained a new managing director, after the departure of Philippa Brown.

Fiona Dent will take over the role from 4 June, with Brown leaving the publisher to join OMG UK as CEO.

Dent will also have responsibility for IPC Plus, the licensing and syndication business, and IPC Direct, which manages subscriptions and direct marketing. She will join the IPC Media board, reporting to Sylvia Auton.

Dent is currently the publishing director of Wallpaper*, the design, interiors and lifestyle magazine. She joined IPC in 1992 and has held a variety of senior marketing and publishing roles.

From 2003 to 2006, she was publishing director of Country Life and Horse and Hound. She was named publishing director of Wallpaper* in January 2006.

“I am delighted to have been asked to lead IPC TX,” she said. “The business is a publishing powerhouse and its talented team has delivered a consistently strong performance in the highly competitive TV listings sector.

“I am very much looking forward to working with the team to take the TX brands to even greater heights.”

Dent’s new role will see her in charge of key IPC titles such as TV Times and What’s On TV, which both shed copies from their circulation year on year at the last ABC consumer magazine concurrent release.

TV Times dropped 7.5% of its total to leave its final figure at 377,473 for July to December 2006, a loss of almost 30,500 issues year on year. Meanwhile, What’s On TV slid by more than 65,000 editions (4.3%). Its total ABC now stands at over 1.4 million (see ABC Results Jul-Dec 2006:Soap Mags Boost Circulation Whilst What’s On TV Retains Top TV Spot).

Auton added: “I have worked with Fiona for many years and her track record is exemplary. She has demonstrated extraordinary abilities across the whole range of publishing disciplines and I look forward to working with her on the board.

“But I’m truly sad to be losing Philippa as a board colleague. Her achievements at IPC speak for themselves and she should be rightly proud of them.”

She continued: “I’m also delighted for her in her new appointment, not only because I know she will do an equally fabulous job at OMG UK but also because she will remain a friend in the industry. We all wish her nothing but the best.”

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