BT implemented a "major clear-out" of top players in its TV business "as it prepares a new attack on Sky" based on its exclusive £900M ($1.3B) Champions League rights deal next season, according to Christopher Williams of the London TELEGRAPH. The most senior departure this summer "will be Alex Green, the head of BT TV." His exit comes less than a year after BT poached Sky Italia exec Delia Bushell "and appointed her managing director of BT TV." Bushell is now reorganizing BT TV "and recruiting new lieutenants." Sources said that Head of Business Development Richard Young and Dir of Content Kate Dean "have recently left the company." BT Sport Head of Commercial James Lord "has also moved on." Bushell said the new structure would be simpler and bring BT Sport and the rest of BT’s TV business, such as technology functions and marketing, closer together to "get us ready for the future and how we want to grow the business." The reorganization splits Green’s role into commercial and content functions, "creates a more senior role for BT Sport’s commercial chief, a new senior role dedicated to sports rights." Sport "remains the heart" of BT’s TV strategy, however. The whole of BT’s consumer unit "is now gearing up for the big push in summer, when it will launch a new set-top box to allow ultra-high definition football coverage" (TELEGRAPH, 3/22).
