Stockholm - Sky Deutschland AG named sports, internet and advertising head Carsten Schmidt to replace Chief Executive Officer Brian Sullivan, who will step down after five years at the helm of the German pay-TV provider.
Sullivan will leave on June 24 and plans to return to the United States, according to a statement on Thursday.
Schmidt will work alongside Sullivan as deputy CEO before the latter’s departure.
Murdoch’s British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC paid more than $10 billion to merge Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland with its UK business last year to become Sky PLC.
The deal promoted BSkyB CEO Jeremy Darroch to the top of a pan-European pay-TV empire, rivalling John Malone’s European cable powerhouse Liberty Global PLC.
In 2003, the Murdochs assembled satellite assets to build Sky Italia. Then beginning in 2008 the family made a series of investments that became Sky Deutschland.
Bloomberg