Fox Sports Media Group CEO DAVID HILL is “stepping down” from his post at 21st Century Fox to “launch a production banner focusing on live TV, reality shows and digital investments,” according to Cynthia Littleton of VARIETY. Hill’s company is “dubbed Hilly and will be backed by Fox.” Hill’s departure “has been in the works for some time and is unrelated to the transition set for July 1, when JAMES and LACHLAN MURDOCH take the reins” of the company from their father, RUPERT, and President & COO CHASE CAREY. Hill “has been a force” at Fox since late ‘93, when Rupert Murdoch “brought him over from Britain to the U.S. to build the Fox Sports broadcast operation from scratch.” Hill’s “on-air innovations included use of a constant score and time graphics, the glowing hockey puck and NFL first down line superimposed on the gridiron.” His departure “marks another end-of-an-era moment for company amid the generational leadership transition with the next-generation of Murdochs.” Despite his “close association with sports, Hill cited his time atop Fox Broadcasting Co. as his career highlight to date” (VARIETY.com, 6/23). In L.A., Meg James wrote Hill is “known for his outsized personality, storytelling skills and numerous achievements that helped establish Fox as a leader in sports broadcasting.” Hill in a statement described his Fox career as "an intensely satisfying creative period" and he was privileged to be "part of the incredible growth of the Fox network and ancillary businesses.” Hill: “To be involved with something that JOHN MADDEN described as ‘Fox Sport’ way back when, to what has become a domestic and global powerhouse is intensely gratifying” (LATIMES.com, 6/23).
