Sogecable has announced that Fernando Bovaira will take over as the company's managing director of contents following the unexpected departure earlier this month of Jose Manuel Lorenzo.

Bovaira has topped Sogecable's production activities through powerhouse Sogecine since 1996, where he shepherded the country's two biggest-grossing local films ever, English-language The Others and comics-inspired Mortadelo & Filemon, The Big Adventure (La Gran Aventura De Mortadelo & Filemon).

Since 2001, he has also overseen sister distribution company Sogepaq. The step up to parent Sogecable will now give Bovaira responsibility as well over content at the company's pay TV operators, Canal Plus and the newly-merged platform Digital Plus.

The local industry will be hoping that Bovaira's proven track record as both producer and distributor will translate into empathy - and potentially more pay TV backing - for Spanish productions and European pick-ups.

The forty year-old executive has worked within the Sogecable conglomerate since 1989, save a two-year hiatus at New Regency in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s. He holds a degree in law as well as masters degrees in communications from Boston University and in finance and marketing from Harvard.