The dedicated Australian TV business channel co-founded by David Koch and Kylie Merritt, ausbiz, has a new weekly program The Front Office.
Hosted by Jimmy Smith and Ramy Haidar, The Front Office is a weekly show on the business of sport.
The new series screens live at 4:30pm each Thursday and can also be watched on the Ausbiz channel on demand.
Jimmy Smith is a former NRL player who played 148 games for three NRL clubs and in the British Super League. He has worked in mainstream media for two decades with Fox Sports, Nine, Triple M and now hosts weekday afternoons on 1170SEN.
Smith likes to keep busy – he has a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics from Sydney University and is a current MBA student at Sydney University.
Ramy Haidar is an award-winning journalist (The Sun-Herald, The Daily Telegraph, Wide World of Sports, Inside Sport and Fox Sports ) and innovation consultant at the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
Smith explained to Mediaweek why he pitched the new show to Ausbiz: “The intertwining of business and sport has never been more pronounced. Team valuations, revenues, player image and stadium redevelopment are all concepts every sports fan is familiar with no matter the code.”
The idea to collaborate on TV with Haidar came after he was a guest on Smith’s 1170SEN show.
“Every week with Ramy he would intrigue me with facts and data around some unexplored or underappreciated factor in sports. It fed my thirst for knowledge in this space, fuelled also by my undertaking of an MBA at The University of Sydney.
“When one Sunday in June Ramy rang with a thought of turning our chats into a TV show I was hooked. Our collaboration with Kylie Merritt and her team at the Ausbiz channel has been superb. Via a mutual friend I had learnt of the network and it seemed the perfect fit for what Ramy and I envisaged.
“We have made the most of a short window in the lead up to the end of the year and we have been blown away by the willingness of the biggest names in Australian sporting administration to not only appear on the show but also pull back the curtain on what makes their organisation tick and what are the key challenges and opportunities that confront them.”
Ausbiz can be watched on the Ausbiz app, via ausbiz.com.au, on 7plus and it is also streamed on the new Flash streaming service.
