BT appoints Jamie Hindhaugh for its new sports channel

The BBC’s head of production for London 2012, Jamie Hindhaugh, will join BT in mid-October as chief operating officer for its new sports channel.

Hindhaugh will be jointly responsible for launching the new channel as well as day-to-day operations. He was in charge of delivering multi-platform coverage for the BBC across both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Hindhaugh’s appointment follows BT’s recent £152 million four-year deal to show exclusive live coverage of the Aviva Rugby Premiership, starting 2013/14 season. In June this year, BT also paid £246 million for the rights to show 38 live games of premiership football, including the opening game of the season.

Hindhaugh said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me, and really addresses the ‘where do you go from there?’ question after the London 2012 Olympics. I’m really excited to be joining at a time when I can help shape the channel, and ensure we deliver a quality viewing experience that all sports fans will want to be a part of. I think as a TV person, launching a channel is something you can only usually dream of, and now I’m going to make that happen.”

Marc Watson, CEO BT Vision, added: “I’m delighted Jamie is joining us as chief operating officer of the new channel. He’ll help us set up and deliver a fantastic quality broadcast channel, which will be distributed across a wide range of platforms. Jamie’s job will be to build the channel over the next few years into one that is loved by many sports fans.”

BT Vision’s general manager of products and propositions Damien Read will be on the business models and platforms panel at MediaTel’s Connected Consumer event on Monday. For a full list of speakers, or to get one of the last remaining tickets, click here.