Following Foxtel’s announcement about sweeping job cuts, CEO Patrick Delany has unveiled a major leadership restructure aimed at positioning the company for its next phase, under new owner DAZN.
Delany made the announcement in an internal email to all staff on Wednesday afternoon.
In the announcement, Delany acknowledged the company’s history of reinvention and framed the changes as essential for continued relevance in a competitive media landscape.
“Change is not new at Foxtel Group. For almost a decade, we have successfully transformed our business from a single-product pay TV operator to a distinctively Australian leader in streaming,” he wrote.
With DAZN now officially at the helm after finalising its acquisition earlier this month, Delany emphasised the opportunity that comes with being part of a global powerhouse.
“We are now owned by DAZN and we are part of a global streaming company with enormous scale, world-class technology, and new ways of working,” Delany wrote.
Foxtel boss Patrick Delany
Driving growth through integration
Delany highlighted that since Foxtel’s core subscription platforms, Foxtel, Kayo, Binge, and Hubbl, have matured, it has prompted a shift toward greater integration.
He added that the new structure is designed to sharpen the business’s focus on its two main revenue streams: subscribers and advertisers.
Key changes include a redistribution of executive responsibilities:
Hilary Perchard has been appointed CEO of Foxtel, Kayo, and Binge. He will oversee all subscription revenue and continue managing entertainment content. “The aim is to better optimise how we run these products and manage trade-offs between platforms,” Delany noted.
Mark Frain, CEO of Foxtel Media, retains his current remit but will now report directly to Delany. “Mark’s done an outstanding job growing our advertising business and our new model,” Delany said.
Julian Ogrin steps into the newly created role of Chief Business Officer. He’ll work closely with DAZN executives to align Foxtel’s platforms and identify learnings that could be scaled globally. “This is a great example of the opportunities that being part of the DAZN Group can create for our people,” Delany added.
Foxtel has confirmed to Mediaweek that Delany’s role will not change and that members of the executive team will continue reporting into him.
Sport remains central
Sport, according to Delany, continues to be Foxtel’s biggest drawcard, both for subscribers and advertisers. Despite the changes to the executive team, the leadership of the company’s sport portfolio will remain the same.
Rebecca McCloy, Executive Director, Commercial Sport and Operations
Steve Crawley, Managing Director, Fox Sports
Changing of the guard in comms
A significant departure amid the reshuffle is Adrian Christie, Executive Director of Group Communications.
With customer communications now falling under Perchard’s remit, and corporate communications reporting to HR and Transformation lead Sally Connell, Christie will exit the business.
“Adrian’s thoughtful, considered counsel has been of enormous value to me personally. On behalf of everyone at Foxtel, I want to thank him for his outstanding contribution,” Delany said.
Foxtel DAZN News Corp
Redundancies loom large
This leadership overhaul comes just a day after Foxtel announced there would be widespread redundancies taking place across the business.
The changes come less than a month after global sports streaming giant DAZN completed its acquisition of Foxtel. While numbers have not been confirmed, the Sydney Morning Herald reported around 100 jobs have gone mainly from marketing and engineering.
Mediaweek understands the redundancies are understood to have included staff from the streaming aggregation business Hubbl.
DAZN announced it was buying Foxtel from News Corp and Telstra in December and the sale was completed in early April with Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany saying, “DAZN’s ownership allows the Foxtel Group to remain an Australian-based business, with an Australian team and the sport, drama and entertainment that Australians love.
“As part of DAZN, we now benefit from their global scale, their leading technology platform and their track-record in innovation that will allow us to more effectively compete with the global streaming giants.”