Foxtel chief executive Patrick Delany has unveiled a number of strategic changes to the executive ranks. In a note to staff today, Delany explained:
“We have repositioned Foxtel as Australia’s premium aggregator of content and entertainment services ‘all in one place’ and made progress in maintaining Foxtel’s customer base with the lowest retail churn in two years. For those that want Foxtel without a set-top, we have Foxtel Now. And customer engagement with our entertainment and sports content has been a highlight in recent months.”
Delany added that together Kayo and Binge have grown the streaming numbers to those products to over 800,000.
“We’ve created a leaner, more efficient company by right-sizing our cost-base and by doing smart content deals in entertainment and sports,” he added.
There are a number of significant changes including a new leader at Fox Sports and expanded roles for Amanda Laing and Brian Walsh.
Key roles in the changes are:
Kieren Cooney: Chief Customer, Marketing and Sales Officer, Foxtel. Cooney will have end-to-end responsibility for all customer interactions including service and loyalty, marketing and publicity, creative services as well as residential and commercial sales.
Julian Ogrin continues as CEO, Kayo and Binge responsible for the group’s new streaming business. It is his responsibility to rapidly grow these streaming businesses and maximise their contribution to Group EBITDA. To ensure Kayo and Binge develop as distinctive customer propositions, each business will have a leader responsible for brand and growth momentum.
New appointments in Ogrin’s team are Ant Hearne as Executive Director, Kayo and Alison Hurbert-Burns as Executive Director, Binge.
Amanda Laing‘s role has been broadened as Chief Commercial and Content Officer. Laing will take Group-wide responsibility for entertainment and sports including Entertainment and Sports divisions (including Fox Sports) together with wholesale partnerships and the legal services team led by Chief General Counsel, Lynette Ireland, given the commercial importance of deal-making excellence. Rebecca McCloy, Director of Acquisitions and Sports Partnerships and Stephen Baldwin, Director of Entertainment, will now report to Laing.
Peter Campbell is moving from Fox Sports to a new role within Product & Strategy as Executive Director, Transformation Implementation. This role builds on Campbell’s track-record of transformation and delivery at Fox Sports, by providing additional executive leadership to drive the next phase of performance improvement across the Foxtel Group, including the introduction of new ways of working.
Steve Crawley has been promoted to the role of Executive Director, Fox Sports. Crawley will lead Fox Sports and its brands nationwide including Fox Footy Melbourne. He will be responsible for the running of Fox Sports including all sports production, programming, budgets, logistics, and editorial for Fox Sports channels and digital which together have experienced record ratings for the NRL and AFL 2020 season.
Steve Crawley
Brian Walsh takes on a group-wide responsibility, leading a newly created Foxtel Originals division, spearheading all local production commissions across Australian drama, lifestyle, factual and entertainment production. This new role highlights the increasing importance of Foxtel’s Australian-produced entertainment content in the group’s strategy, building on the success of series such as Wentworth, Upright, Gogglebox, Selling Houses Australia and Real Housewives of Melbourne.
Brian Walsh
After more than two years in Australia, Alice Mascia Foxtel’s Chief Product and Strategy Officer and her partner Mauro di Pietro Paolo, Chief Information Officer, are returning to Italy. There is no immediate change in Product and Strategy as Mascia has agreed to stay at Foxtel until around the end of the year to continue her leadership of Strategy and Transformation which has been fundamental to our success during this COVID-19 period.