Ruibal joins H&C TV board
February 19, 2020
Horse & Country TV (H&C), the international equestrian sports network, has announced the appointment of sports media veteran, Claude Ruibal, to its board of directors.
Ruibal is a senior level leader with extensive knowledge and experience with sports content creation, distribution and monetisation across traditional and new digital platforms. He was most recently SVP, Digital, Production & Sports Solutions at Infront, where he served as Chairman of iX.co (the world’s leading sports digital solutions company) and HBS (the global leader in Host Broadcaster solutions for major sporting events). He led an integrated cross-functional team that captured new audiences and revenue streams for sports partners, delivering innovation in content production and distribution, the creation of new, interactive digital offerings, and the development of neural network deep learning technologies to provide enhanced local and regional branding opportunities for sponsors.
Ruibal has held a variety of roles at organizations including GoPro, the Coca-Cola Company, and Google, where he led a global team responsible for forging sports partnerships and building out sports content on YouTube. Prior to that, Ruibal was co-founder and CEO of Universal Sports Network, later acquired by NBC Universal and renamed the Olympic Channel.
H&C CEO, Heather Killen, said: “We are delighted that Claude has agreed to join the H&C board at this pivotal time in the company’s development. His experience in both consumer facing sports media, and in working with rights holders to maximise their reach, return and reputation, will be of tremendous value to the business.”
Ruibal commented: “Equestrian is a key component of the sports media landscape, with a passionate and currently underserved fan and participant community that wants access to watch high level competition, and also consume surrounding content about the riders, the horses and how to improve their own skills as participants. H&C is creating the leading lifestyle destination for both sports and non-sports content, that will be the global home for Equestrian sport.”
H&C recently announced the acquisition of EQ Sports Net, the equestrian sports streaming operator in the US. This year, the company will stream 200 days of live sports, and offer exclusive training and learning, and documentary programming, adding to its deep archive of premium equestrian content.