BT TV hires Sky Italia’s Bushell
April 7, 2014
BT has moved quickly to fill the gap left by Marc Watson’s sudden departure following reorganisation plans that will see BT TV and BT Sport combine. The telco has appointed Delia Bushell Managing Director of BT TV and Sport, Bushell, who will join BT in July, is currently Chief Commercial Officer of Sky Italia.
Bushell has spent the past fourteen years at BSkyB and Sky Italia in a variety of roles. She was Director of Broadband and Telephony at BSkyB from 2006 to 2011, taking its new broadband service from launch to more than 3.5 million subscribers. Prior to that she was Managing Director, Sky Ireland, doubling Sky’s subscription growth rate in the Irish Republic over 2005-6.
Earlier in her career, Bushell spent three years as Director of Commercial Affairs for Sky Networks. In this role she defined the strategy and launch plans for Sky’s Freeview channels as well as directing all commercial activity around Sky One.
Bushell will report into John Petter, BT Consumer Chief Executive, and have responsibility for both BT TV and BT Sport. She will set the long term strategy for both services, ensuring they enhance BT’s broadband business and help BT Consumer in its drive to achieve top and bottom line growth.
She will be responsible for developing the BT TV platform and the BT Sport channels as well as for their financial performance. She will also oversee the development and acquisition of content at BT TV including premium rights.
BT TV has a customer base of more than 950,000 homes which can access more than 150 channels ranging from premium sport to the most popular pay TV channels, as well as a huge library of on demand content via a BT set top box. Only eight months since launch, BT Sport is already enjoyed by more than four million homes across the UK and is accessible via BT TV, Sky’s satellite platform, Virgin Media’s cable network and the BT Sport App.
Bushell said that BT was shaking up the UK TV market. “Sport may have grabbed the headlines recently but the opportunity is far broader and I look forward to working with the team to build on the successes to date.”
Petter noted that Bushell had helped Sky build a formidable triple play base and was sure she would help BT to build on its strong success with BT TV and Sport.