Sky tapped Ian France (pictured, left) and Estelle Hughes (pictured, right) as commissioning editors for kids. The newly created positions come as the England-based broadcaster expands its efforts around children’s programming.

France and Hughes will start with the company in the coming weeks and work alongside Lucy Murphy, who was promoted to director of kids content for the UK and Ireland (effective immediately). Murphy was hired as Sky’s first head of kids content in 2015, responsible for children’s programming across all platforms. She will continue to report to Zai Bennett, managing director of content at Sky in the UK and Ireland.

Previously, France served as head of presentation for BBC Children’s and as executive producer for shows including CBeebies Bedtime Stories and Saturday Mash Up. Hughes, meanwhile, joins Sky from RoobyDoo Media, where she served as joint owner and managing director. She also worked as an executive producer for CITV’s Thunderbirds Are Go.

Sky has inked a number of kid-focused deals recently, including picking up Lupus Films and Dream Logic Studios’ 26-minute 3D-animated film The Christmas Letter and working with Aardman to reboot the slapstick comedy show Morph with 15 x five-minute episodes set to premiere this spring.