As the commercial arm of the Beeb looks to strengthen its programming output across its localized channels, John Taite has been upped to VP programming for EMEA and the company’s seeking three new heads of scheduling for the region.

Taite steps up from his previous role as director of programming. Since joining BBC Worldwide Channels in September 2007, Taite has overseen the creation and success of a dozen fully localized channels across EMEA. He’ll be taking editorial control for all BBC-branded channels across the EMEA and leading an expanded team of schedulers, media planners and presentation planners.

BBCW Channels will also look to appoint a trio to head up scheduling roles for Poland, Africa and the Nordic region in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Otto Leong has been tapped as director of distribution and business development for CBeebies, BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and BBC World News in Taiwan and China.

He’ll be based in Hong Kong and will look to drive revenue growth as well as develop strategic distribution initiatives for the territories. Otto comes to the Beeb with more than 20 years of experience in media and entertainment program distribution, having handled worldwide distribution for Hong Kong’s pay-TV services i-Cable.