Wakeling’s role as head of Sky Sports will be taken by Barney Francis, with Sophie Turner-Laing assuming responsibility for Sky News as part of her role as managing director, entertainment and news. Wakeling has headed BSkyB’s sports division for 15 years.
BSkyB last week reported a net addition of 80,000 subscribers in the nine months to end-March, a 43-per-cent rise on the same period a year ago. BSkyB now has 9.318 million subscribers across the UK and Ireland.