Aussie veteran to oversee American Idol

David Hill, the man who reinvented World Series Cricket for Kerry Packer, will now turn his attention to rejuvenating American Idol.

Hill, who introduced technological advances to both cricket and the NFL in the US, has been appointed by FOX to oversee American Idol and X Factor as big live event brands.

Hill is currently senior executive vp at News Corp. but will take on the more traditional network-producer relationship on the network’s two singing competition shows. He will serve as the network’s point person for the producers.

A source tells the Hollywood Reporter: “They see a strong transition in David. These shows are well-oiled machines in some cases. He’ll serve as the main person from the network who’ll focus on them while a new as-yet-undetermined reality head will focus on development while getting up to speed on everything already in production and the pipeline.”

Season 12 of American Idol saw a double-digit drop in ratings.