Simon Taylor joins Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) EMEA as vp, legal & business affairs. In this London-based role, Taylor will be responsible for managing all legal and business affairs for BVITV’s TV and new media distribution business.

Within this, he will work closely with both Tom Toumazis, evp/md, BVITV EMEA and Peter Wiley, Disney’s svp and European general counsel. Taylor will manage a BVITV legal & business affairs team of 11 based in London and Paris. He will also become a member of BVITV’s executive team.

Taylor was business consultant to a range of clients in the entertainment broadcasting, production and distribution sectors. Prior to this, he was director, legal & business affairs at HIT Ent. from 2000 to 2002, after almost 10 years at the BBC, where he was head of business & legal affairs, BBC TV program acquisition (1994-2000). Taylor trained with Mishcon de Reya, London.

Toumazis said, “I’m delighted that someone with Simon’s experience and knowledge of the industry will help us manage the number of business opportunities and legal issues we face in the industry, including emerging new technology platforms and assisting with our continued efforts against piracy.”

“Simon’s extensive track record of in-house legal experience in the international media industry will prove invaluable for our whole company,” added Wiley.

BVITV manages the pay TV, free TV, pay-per-view, video-on-demand and mobile licensing of The Walt Disney Co.’s filmed entertainment, including feature films from Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone Pictures, network series, Disney-produced animated and live-action series, and ABC News content. BVITV also services the distribution of the Jetix Europe portfolio of programming. BVITV licenses more than 30,000 hours of programming to some 1,300 broadcasters across 240 territories worldwide.