Amanda Laing, Foxtel Group’s chief commercial and content officer and Binge managing director, has resigned and will be leaving the Foxtel Group later this year.
She joined the business in 2018 as chief commercial officer, before being promoted to chief commercial and content officer in 2020, and her current role in 2023. Laing was seen as a future potential leader of the subscription TV and streaming businesses, if, of course, that vacancy ever came up.
Patrick Delany on the dealmaker
Patrick Delany, CEO of the Foxtel Group said: “Since joining the Foxtel Group in 2018, Amanda has been instrumental to the Foxtel Group’s content strategy and has played a key leadership role in the transformation which has enabled us to launch Kayo, Binge, Flash and Hubbl during her tenure.
“Amanda led dozens of negotiations with US studios for content and channel acquisitions, as well as supported the business as a leading executive on our sports rights deals. She has made an outstanding contribution to the growth of subscribers and revenue that the Foxtel Group has seen during her tenure, and I thank her for the commitment and passion she has always brought to her role.”
Laing was a direct report to Delany. Reporting to Laing were the heads of content at Foxtel, including Alison Hurbert-Burns, executive director, Binge and commissioner, Foxtel Group.
See also: The dealmaker – Foxtel’s Amanda Laing on securing Warner Bros Discovery
Commenting on her decision to leave the Foxtel Group, Amanda Laing said: “I am very proud of the transformation and growth we have achieved at the Foxtel Group over the last six years. I’ve had the privilege to work across both sport and entertainment, my two great loves, to drive strategic change and to deliver the best content in the world for our customers. We are all lucky to work in an industry that values innovation, creativity, intellect and drive.
“Harnessing these to deliver revenue and negotiate innovative deals to drive growth for Foxtel Group and its partners has been my focus and I know the talented teams at the Foxtel Group will continue this work under Patrick’s leadership.”
Laing will remain with the company until September to help with the transition of leadership. Foxtel Group will reveal details of executives to take over Laing’s responsibilities before she departs. For now, Binge and the broader functions of content strategy, acquisitions, commissioning, and production will remain under her leadership.
Amanda Laing with Patrick Delany
Amanda Laing: ‘I still have business to take care of’
Earlier in the day, Laing shared her thoughts on her departure in a LinkedIn post.
It’s hard but not impossible to express in a snappy LinkedIn post how much I’ve loved my time at the Foxtel Group and how proud I am of all that has been achieved while I’ve been here. Fox Sports Australia and Foxtel had just merged when I started in 2018 so we immediately set about optimising the potential of the newly merged entity.
First, we needed to restructure and renegotiate the content deals to provide us with the foundations to successfully launch Kayo Sports, Binge and later Flash. Then we needed to cement our position as a partner of choice for studios, talent, channels, production partners and apps. We drove the new streaming businesses hard and kept the legacy businesses firing. We transformed our cost base and drove greater revenues, and our clever, passionate teams rose to the occasion on every occasion.
I’ll be at Foxtel Group for the next few months, so I am not signing off – I still have plenty of business to take care of – but I wanted to take the opportunity today to acknowledge the terrific people and remarkable successes of the last 6 years.
Started career in legal for Kerry Packer
Laing began her media career as a general counsel, first for Kerry Packer’s Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) in 1999 and then for PBL Media for a total of 14 years.
She then segued into Nine first as commercial director and group general counsel and then as managing director until mid-2017. The following year she joined the Foxtel Group, where she has been for just over six years.