Polly Scates is appointed Head of Acquisitions at Channel 4

17 October 2023

Channel 4 has announced that Polly Scates is the new Head of Acquisitions, reporting into Kiran Nataraja, Director of Content Strategy and Planning.

Polly will lead on the creation and roll out, deal terms and delivery of the strategy for all acquired series, scripted and non-scripted, as well as overseeing film across Channel 4’s VOD platform and linear portfolio. Working closely with the commissioning teams across the channel, Polly will also play a key role in any pre-production acquisitions and co-production opportunities alongside the relevant Genre Head.

Kiran Nataraja, Director of Content Strategy and Planning said, "Polly is an outstanding leader and negotiator with brilliant commercial experience and I am thrilled she is taking on this role. During her time at Channel 4, she has led on a raft of successful deals and her excellent reputation is second to none. Acquisitions play a crucial part in our content strategy on streaming and across the portfolio of channels and with Polly's deft and strategic skills and expertise, she will continue to build on the team's impressive track record.”

Polly Scates said, “I'm absolutely thrilled to be appointed to the role of Head of Acquisitions. I'm beyond excited to shape the acquisitions strategy at Channel 4, collaborate and form new partnerships. We will continue to evolve our output, especially with regards to pre-buys and in taking our VOD growth to the next level.  This promotion is an exciting new chapter in my career.”

Based in London, Polly currently leads on series acquisitions for Channel 4's VOD platform and linear portfolio and has played a pivotal role in the expansion of the Future 4 strategy, securing high profile boxsets such as, 'Community' and 'Seinfeld' for VOD, as well as contributing to the growth of True Crime on 4 with series such as 'My Name is Reeva', 'Moors Murders' and most recently, 'The Flight Attendant Murders.'

Polly has also been the driving force behind landing key premiere titles such as ‘Killing It’ from NBC, as well as leading the development of unscripted pre-buy strategy, resulting in successes such as 'Chernobyl: The New Evidence', 'Alice Roberts: Ancient Egypt by Train' and Grierson award winning 'The Arctic Drift'.

Before beginning her career in Acquisitions, Polly worked within the Advertising sales team at Channel 4 and prior to that she worked with Avalon.

Polly will start her new role in January 2024, taking over from Nick Lee who is leaving at the end of the year to join BBC Studios.