Endemol To Launch New Sports Division
Endemol, the production company that spawned the Big Brother reality TV series, has poached two senior IMG executives to launch a new sports division.
Endemol Sport will be launched in January by joint managing directors Lawrence Duffy, former head of development at IMG Sports Media, and Gregg Oldfield, former vice-president of network ventures at IMG Media.
The group is expected to use its global reach to work directly with sporting bodies to develop media propositions across different platforms and territories.
Endemol has an existing partnership with the Dutch top-flight football league, Eredivise, to develop their media content and it is expected that this style of agreement will form the basis of the commercial model with which the new entity will go out into the market.
Eredivisie Live broadcasts seven days a week across cable and IPTV platforms and features a mixture of live action, news, opinion and commentary. Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker features on the channel as a commentator.
Endemol Sport will also work on new shows that combine the group’s expertise in other areas, such as entertainment and factual programming, with sports elements.
