NITV appoints new commissioning head

National Indigenous Television has appointed Marissa McDowell as Head of Commissions, overseeing documentaries, drama, entertainment and children’s programs, reflecting First Nations stories.

McDowell (pictured top), a proud Wiradjuri woman, joined NITV as Commissioning Editor in early 2021, and has recently been acting as the head of the commissioning team.

Her appointment comes as NITV prepares to deliver its biggest ever original commissioned content line-up over the year ahead, including the latest ground-breaking children’s show, Barrumbi Kids to premiere on 18 November. During her time with NITV, she has been overseeing the delivery and development of projects including documentaries Black Empire, Sistas in Mining, and Un-Locked, part of the Curious Australia initiative, and doco series Our Law.

Also appointed is Rhanna Collins (above), to the newly-established role of Head of Business and Operations, coordinating key operational activities for the channel.

A proud palawa woman, she first joined NITV in 2014, and steps into the position after most recently leading news  and current affairs show, The Point. She led the team during a period which included the COVID-19 pandemic, and also oversaw the launch of Australia’s first all-Indigenous breakfast TV show, Big Mob Brekky, as part of NAIDOC Week in 2020.

General Manager of NITV, Peter Noble, a Girramay and Bandjin man, said: “At NITV we proudly champion Indigenous excellence on and off the screen, I’m thrilled to have Marissa and Rhanna stepping up into these critical positions that are central to NITV’s ongoing success.

“NITV is going from strength to strength, delivering outstanding programming and growing audiences. We’re reaching more Australians than ever with multiplatform content that champions First Nations voices, and the coming year will see us share our strongest ever collection of original content – our stories, in our hands, shared with everyone. It comes as we prepare to mark a major milestone; on 12 December, we’ll reach a decade of NITV being available free-to-air and to every Australian, as part of the SBS network. I look forward to working closely with Marissa, Rhanna and the rest of the NITV team as we deliver even more for our communities, and all Australians.”

McDowell and Collins commence in their new roles immediately.