MUMBAI: In a precursor to the split in its business empire, media conglomerate News Corporation has restructured its senior leadership team that oversees the company?s media and entertainment properties.

Peter Rice, who has served as Chairman of Entertainment for Fox Networks Group (FNG) since 2010, has been elevated to Chairman and CEO of FNG, where he will oversee all programming and operations for the group, which includes Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports Media Group, FX, Fox International Channels and the National Geographic Channels.

David Hill, who has served as Chairman and CEO of Fox Sports since 1999, has been elevated to Senior Executive Vice President, News Corporation. In this new role Hill will focus on programming, digital initiatives and other opportunities spanning the breadth of the company?s operating units across Latin America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the U.S. Hill will be based in Los Angeles.

In commenting on the promotions, News Corporation President and COO Chase Carey said, "The contributions that Peter has made to News Corporation over the years are immeasurable. Peter has proven himself at both the Fox Entertainment Networks, and Fox Searchlight before, to be one of the most innovative and strategic leaders in the entertainment industry."

David Haslingden, President and COO of FNG, and Mike Hopkins, President of Distribution for FNG, both of whom previously reported to Carey, will now report to Rice. Randy Freer and Eric Shanks, Co-Presidents of Fox Sports Media Group (FSMG), who previously reported to Hill, will also report to Rice. Kevin Reilly, President of Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company, and John Landgraf, President and GM of FX, will continue to report to Rice.

"I am honoured to work closely with the excellent executive team at FNG to lead these businesses into their next phase and am grateful to Rupert, Chase and James for this amazing opportunity," said Rice.

"The talented artists, powerful brands, franchises and live events we have in place across our channels are unrivaled in the media business, and will serve as an invaluable foundation as we embark on another wave of incremental growth."

"After 30 years spent building our sports businesses into global leaders, I?ve been eager to dive into a broader role that enables me to hunt down untapped programming, investment and digital opportunities all over the world. From sports rights in emerging markets to new overseas digital channels, this new role will allow me to explore and experiment with new programming concepts across the whole of News Corporation in a completely new way," said Hill.

News Corp has decided to split its business into two entities separating its film & television business, which contributes about 75 per cent of its revenues, from the publishing business, which has been was a drag on the conglomerate?s bottom line.

MUMBAI: News Corp is planning to launch a national US sports network on cable television to take on Walt Disney-owned network ESPN, the dominant player in that market.

According to Bloomberg News, the company is considering converting its action-sports network Fuel to the new channel that would compete not just with ESPN but with NBC?s and CBS?s sports networks.

Fox Sports chairman David Hill is spearheading the new channel which could begin service by the end of this year.

The implications of this could also be felt in Asia where the two companies run the ESPN Star Sports join venture, which according to recent media reports is on the verge of splitting. This development will only add fuel to that speculation.

The company is also in the process of assembling the required rights from pay-TV carriers and sports organisations for the yet-to-be-launched channel.

News Corp had recently snapped up various sports rights prominent among them being the US TV rights to Fifa World Cup in 2018 and 2022, beating competition ESPN. It had also secured rights to the Pac-12 Conference and Big-12 Conference games and is in the running to secure an exclusive deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to Miller Tabak & Co analyst David Joyce, "The success of all these networks will depend on the quality of their sports rights. There?s been a lot of competition for those rights and that?s driven up costs."

Joyce also opined that ESPN is well-positioned to withstand competition because of its rights for Monday Night Football and national baseball and basketball games.

A national sports channel can capture higher affiliate fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV, according to research firm SNL Kagan. ESPN will command $5.06 per subscriber per month this year, the most of any cable channel, it estimates.