Eurosport appoints Disney’s Melwani
June 8, 2020
Eurosport has expanded its digital leadership team with the appointment of experienced digital media expert Amar Melwani in the newly created role of VP, Distribution Partnerships and Rights where he will link up to Discovery’s global direct-to-consumer operation.
Melwani’s appointment will see him further develop Eurosport’s future digital sports rights strategy, ensuring customers are provided with the widest multi-sport offering of programming, however they choose to access it, to drive the continued growth and expansion of Eurosport’s direct-to-consumer business.
He will also leverage his business development experience to establish and manage third-party distribution partnerships for Eurosport’s digital subscription offerings, working with device manufacturers, operating system platforms and other strategic distibutors to make it even easier for customers to access Eurosport’s digital content on any screen.
Melwani joins from The Walt Disney Company where he managed partnerships, product marketing and analytics for Disney+. He previously led rights acquisitions, content distribution and the direct-to-consumer business for Disney-owned ESPN across EMEA, and prior to this, managed the distribution of Sky’s international direct-to-consumer service.
Paul Rehrig, GM, Eurosport Digital, said: “As we continue to drive our direct-to-consumer strategy forward, we are excited to welcome Amar and will greatly benefit from his experience developing world-class OTT services and building distribution and commercial businesses within sports media. Even during this challenging period, Eurosport isn’t standing still. We are hard at work enhancing all aspects of Eurosport’s digital products – from content to product to underlying technology – all to better serve our customers.
Melwani added: “The scale and depth of Eurosport’s sport portfolio, combined with a unique level of country-by-country localisation across Europe, is unrivalled anywhere and provides an outstanding foundation for delivering best-in-class direct-to-consumer offerings to customers and partners. I look forward to working closely with the Eurosport leadership team on a digital-first approach that drives further growth throughout our business.”