MUMBAI: Sameer Rao, who was the creative director at UTV Studios in Mumbai, will be joining Discovery Channel, the flagship network of Discovery Communications, in a senior position this week. A source confirmed the news of Rao's move to one of the most dynamic networks on television which is devoted to creating quality non-fiction programming.

Although the alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is reportedly joining Discovery formally on 25 November, his official designation could not be confirmed.

It was later made official that Rao joined as vice-president - real world products, south Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining UTV in May last year where he conceptualised, ideated and developed scripts with screenwriters and directors, did cost/revenue analysis before approving feature film projects and oversaw pre-production, production, post-production and marketing of Hindi feature films, Rao worked with the acclaimed writer-director-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra's production company for over four years since November 2010 as the business head for films such as '3 Idiots', Munna Bhai series and P.K.

Before joining Chopra, Rao invested over six years in Star India from January 2005 to November 2010, starting as an assistant vice-president and rising up to the level of general manager, where his responsibilities included management of the overall channel team involved in acquisition of movies, programming of slots, marketing and promotion and working with the ad sales team on revenue maximisation.

The trained chartered accountant was, earlier, the associate director at KPMG for two years. Later, he worked as a consultant to Arthur Anderson and then as the UBS AG manager.