After FremantleMedia sold its entire global children’s content catalogue to Boat Rocker in 2018, regional division Fremantle Australia has appointed a former Disney head of programming Joel Williams as its new head of kids.

FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment initially launched in 2010 and amassed a portfolio of more than 45 brands consisting of 150 series and 1,600 half hours of children’s programming from preschool to tweens/teens, before selling it all. But it appears the company is cautiously getting back into the kids game.

Leading the new children’s initiative out of Australia, Williams will work with broadcasters in the region and internationally to assess market requirements and build a slate. He will work with children’s production sector in Australia, including talent, agents, writers and producers to source content. His focus is targeting kids five- to 12-years-old with Australian stories with both scripted and unscripted content.

Reporting to Fremantle’s director of content Jennifer Collins, Williams began this week. For the past year, he’s been serving as an executive consultant at Spencer Media, and prior to that, he spent ten years at Disney working his way up from manager of Disney Channel programming in Australia to head of programming for content and consumer engagement across the country.