Ross Hair, executive vice president at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Europe for the past nine years is reported to be heading for ESPN Europe as the replacement for Lynne Frank.
It is a return to the sports network for Hair who spent three years with ESPN Star Sports in Singapore in the late 1990s. He had previously worked for Nickelodeon UK and BSkyB.
Frank left her job as European managing director in April, citing family reasons. She had been responsible for the acquisition of NASN, now ESPN Europe, and the launch of a dedicated UK channel centred on the Premier League. The channel had secured the rights to 46 matches following the demise of Setanta Sports, leaving her team just six weeks to take the channel to air.
The reduction of two to one Premier League package has not dented the channel, picking up rights to the FA Cup, and forging a closer relationship with BSkyB than that previously held by Setanta.