Facebook Set To Appoint Eurosport Chief For Live Push
Facebook is set to appoint Eurosport chief executive Peter Hutton to lead the network’s push into live sports streaming, according to a report in The Guardian.
The widely-reported story claims Hutton will take up a role as head of live sport at the social media giant following the completion of Eurosport’s Winter Olympic coverage, taking place next month in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Prior to joining the Discovery-owned network, which he has led for the past three years, Hutton served as a co-chief executive at MP & Silva, where he negotiated rights deals for major properties including the FIFA World Cup.
Hutton currently oversees Eurosport’s content strategy and rights acquisitions.
News of the appointment follows increasing reports of the company’s aspirations to build on its sports rights acquisitions.
In recent months, Facebook has been investing greater sums in acquiring live sports rights as it looks to build out its new Watch video platform.
Recent rights secured by Facebook included Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), and Fox Sports for selected UEFA Champions League matches, while the company also failed in a $600m bid for rights to Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket in September.
Should the Englishman join after the Winter Olympics, Hutton would not be a Facebook representative until after the Premier League rights have gone out to tender. For the next cycle, which will cover 2019 to 2022, the Premier League has created two packages of games rights offering two rounds of games for streaming simulcast.
