Pan-regional broadcaster Eurosport has unveiled four key appointments and changes to its senior management team.
The changes intend to further integrate parent company Discovery Communications and Eurosport’s lines of business in France, and build upon Eurosport’s status as a leading sports brand.
Arnaud Simon, previously managing director of Eurosport France and director of television content has been promoted to senior vice-president of content and production for the Eurosport Group. In this newly defined role, Simon will be charged to develop new standards in global production values, partnering closely with local markets to ensure Eurosport’s content and the expression of its brand values are executed consistently across all markets.
Laurent Prud’Homme has been promoted to senior vice-president of rights acquisitions and syndication with a remit to stimulate both local and multi-territory rights acquisition. Prud’Homme will work increasingly with Eurosport’s local markets to identify optimal content strategies.
Jonathan Davies will join the group as managing director of advertiser partnerships for Eurosport and Discovery Pan-Europe. In this newly created position, Davies (pictured) will lead both Eurosport Pan-Regional and Discovery International ad sales teams and reports to Peter Hutton, chief executive of Eurosport, while working closely with Discovery’s presidents across Europe.
Davies joins Eurosport from CNN where he spent 12 years, most recently as executive vice-president of CNN International responsible for global ad sales, commercial programme production and marketing.
Former development director for Eurosport, Julien Bergeaud, has been promoted to senior vice-president and country manager for France and sports rights in southern Europe. In the newly combined Eurosport and Discovery France business, Bergeaud will lead the entire portfolio in France with channel management, commercial development and communication teams reporting directly to him. In addition, Bergeaud will coordinate sports rights across southern Europe. Bergeaud will report directly to Marinella Soldi, president and managing director of Discovery Networks Southern Europe.
Commenting on the appointments, Hutton said: “Today’s announcement is a strengthening of Eurosport’s leadership team that will transform our business and drive world-class standards in sports programming, production, promotion and platforms.”