By Simon Zekaria
LONDON--BT Group PLC has poached a former British Sky
Broadcasting Group PLC executive to head its fast-growing
television and sports businesses, as the rivals battle for
subscribers and prepare to square off for a crucial soccer-rights
auction.
Delia Bushell will be BT's managing director of TV and Sport
from July, replacing Marc Watson who left last month, the former
telecom monopoly said Monday.
Ms. Bushell, 41 years old, is currently chief commercial officer
of Italian digital satellite television platform Sky Italia,
overseeing marketing and sales for its EUR2.5 billion ($3.4
billion) residential business. Sky Italia is owned by Rupert
Murdoch's 21st Century Fox Inc. BSkyB is 39%-owned by 21st Century
Fox, which until June 2013 was part of News Corp., the owner of The
Wall Street Journal.
Previously, Ms. Bushell was BSkyB's director of broadband and
telephony for five years, from 2006.
Telecoms giant BT is locked in a fight with BSkyB--the satellite
broadcaster that leads Britain's pay-TV sector--for telephony,
broadband and television users across that so-called "triple-play"
market.
To boost its core telephony business, BT has spent billions of
dollars over the last couple of years acquiring premium sports
rights to fill its sports channels, launched eight months ago. BT
Sport is offered free to existing BT broadband customers.
In 2012, BT secured three-year rights to 38 live English Premier
League soccer matches each season through 2016, challenging BSkyB's
long dominance over U.K. soccer. It has also beaten off competition
for European soccer rights.
The next auction of Premier League rights is expected at the end
of this year or next.
BT is "shaking up" the U.K. TV market, said Ms. Bushell on
Monday, who will report to John Petter, chief executive of BT's
consumer division. "I am thrilled to be joining at such an exciting
time."
Ms. Bushell wasn't available for further comment.
BT TV has a customer base of more than 950,000 homes, BT says,
while BT Sport is found in more than four million homes, including
via Sky's satellite platform and Virgin Media Inc.'s cable network.
BSkyB has more than 10 million pay-TV customers.
Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@wsj.com
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