Premier Media Group exec resigns
Chief Operating Officer for Premier Media Group, Jon Marquard, has announced he will leave the company in July.
- Published by David Knox
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Chief Operating Officer for Premier Media Group, Jon Marquard, has announced he will leave the company in July.
CEO David Malone said, “When Jon first started at FOX Sports in late 1998, the business was a small single channel with less than 60 staff. Since then, Jon has played a pivotal role in building FOX Sports into the powerhouse business it is today.
“I know Jon has mixed emotions about leaving because of his immense passion for the business and high regard for the team here, however he believes this is the right time for him to seek a new career challenge. Jon is an outstanding executive and he has provided me with great support over many years as my 2IC, close colleague and good friend,” Malone added.
In announcing his decision Marquard said, “I love this place and the people I have had the privilege of working with internally and externally. FOX Sports is in incredible shape and I had the most fantastic time in contributing to our growth. It is rare to have a job where I could be so engrossed and passionate in what we were doing, for so long.
“I have had incredible support throughout my time here from David Malone, the shareholders and my wonderful team who I work with every day. I want to thank David for his leadership, patience (with me) and his regular counsel. I wish FOX Sports and everyone associated with it all the best for the next exciting stage of its development.”
In April it was announced that Foxtel Executive Director of Product Development and Sales Patrick Delany would replace outgoing CEO David Malone.
4 Responses
@ Armchair Analyst – well thats the point of it being pay TV, you want a sports dedicated channel you gotta pay for it. And besides ONE is still having a fair portion of its programming as sports, with mainly only primetimes being entertainment. But your right that PMG need more competition. ESPN should be launching ESPNews to compete with FoxSportsNews, and launch ESPNU to show sports that Fox Sports don’t. Also if Foxtel/Austar pick up Multi Channels Asia’s Outdoor Channel that will offer a niche market of sport programming which is the opposite of PMG’s channels (hunting, fishing, etc.). Aswell as Chellomedia’s Extreme Sports Channel to compete with Fuel TV. But seriously you can’t blame the ACCC for this as they can’t say whether a network can or cannot launch pay TV channels – who is at fault is Austar/Foxtel for denying channel proposals (with Outdoor Channel putting in an proposal to both Foxtel and Austar and not receiving a reply and it has been over 6 months).
Well he has done a good job. I would like to see him employed by a Free to Air Network it wont be Ten thats for sure. I hope he goes to 7 or 9 although i dont think it will happen. Fox Sports has been alowed to grow. No competition what so ever. Even when they had a competitor like One HD because of our lazy media ownership laws it has no been diluted. Remember the C7? apparently only Foxtel can have a paytv sports channel. If you get into the game they will do what ever they can to eliminate the competition. They are partly aided by australias weak and pathetic Competition and Consumer laws.
…and I’m sure this won’t be the last of the Fox Sports clean out – I’d be nervous if I worked there because I expect Delany to shake the place up – not before time either.
Wow another PMG CEO retiring! That isn’t a good sign! Now that SPEED and ESPN2 have launched, have PMG given up on expanding and instead the CEO’s are retiring? PMG is a hidden goldmine with it having access to a list of channels that they can launch in Australia and yet they take it one channel every couple of years. On the positive side though, they are the only network in Australia that has their HD simulcast a seperate feed to allow for the onscreen logo to change to have the ‘HD’ component which I extremely prefer. Lets hope with some new blood they will take Australian sports to the next level (e.g. Fox Soccer Channel, Fuel TV and FoxSportsNews in HD, and Fox College Sports before ESPN decide to launch ESPNU)