LONDON: Facebook is reportedly poised to appoint Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton to lead its sports ambitions.
The appointment Hutton, an old India hand, follows the social network behemoth’s global search for a head of live sport after being frustrated in a $600 million bid to secure digital rights to the Indian Premier League, The Guardian reports.
Hutton’s appointment comes ahead of the 9 February deadline for bids for the £6 billion TV and digital rights for Premier League matches in the United Kingdom from 2019-22, but according to the respected British daily, Facebook is unlikely to be a contender in the auction for UK rights.
Why not? Because Hutton is not expected to start in his new role until after Eurosport completes its broadcast of the Winter Games in South Korea. Ergo that means no Premier League rights bid by Facebook, the daily has surmised.
Hutton joined Eurosport in 2015, charged with strengthening and localizing the brand worldwide. In the three years since he took charge of Eurosport, Hutton’s biggest acquisition was the Discovery-owned network’s £920 million deal to take control of the rights to broadcast the Olympic Games across Europe.
Prior to joining Eurosport, Hutton worked in the sports industry for over 30 years in a variety of roles all over the world. Most recently, he was CEO at the MP and Silva sports rights agency, and previously he was part of Fox International Channels, driving the launch of their sports business outside the Americas, including the acquisition of Setanta Sports in Africa and ESPN-Star Sports in Asia. He became CEO of ESPN-Star Sports based out of Singapore and oversaw its change into Fox Sports in Asia and Star Sports in India.
Before that, Hutton has a seven-year tenure at Ten Sports, which he launched along with Chris McDonanld in 2002. Prior to that Hutton was with IMG from 1994 to 2002, based out of India.
