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Job cuts at Kayo under new ownership

Foxtel Group has made a number of redundancies at Kayo Sports, following the company’s recent $3.4 billion takeover by global sporting streaming Dazn.

A spokesperson from Foxtel confirmed the redundancies to Mumbrella, saying they “align with our recent executive re-shuffle that saw Hilary Perchard take on the responsibility of Kayo Sports and Binge, as well as Foxtel.”

Mumbrella understands the recent round of job losses is in the single digits.

Last month, the Foxtel Group made roughly 100 redundancies, with the majority from the Hubbl team, as the new owners look to merge its services with those of Dazn.

At the launch of Kayo’s summer of cricket 2025, in Melbourne.

Kayo CEO Julian Ogrin recently told Mumbrella that its sports streaming offering was one of the main incentives for Dazn to pursue the takeover deal.

“The IP that we have is something they were very interested in buying,” Ogrin said in April. “Kayo has always been regarded around the world as one of the best streaming services, from a customer-experience point of view, and so is Dazn.

“And by bringing us together, they’re going to get the best of our IP and the best of their IP coming together, eventually, one day.”

‘One day’ might be soon approaching. Dazn currently operates in 200 countries, including in Australia, and will eventually rebrand Kayo Sport to Dazn.

Dazn’s 2022 takeover of broadcaster Eleven Sports, provides a roadmap of how this may occur. Eleven was active in 17 markets across Europe and Southeast Asia, until the takeover, when the various sporting rights and business operations were folded into existing Dazn platforms.

In April, Ogrin said the two businesses were “in discovery mode”.

“They’re going to help us, whether it’s content, whether it’s user experience, development, or branding … then we come out the other end and work out where our IP can get exported, and where their IP can get imported.”

Kayo has 1.5 million subscribers in Australia, and holds a number of key sporting licences in Australia, including NRL, AFL, extensive cricket rights, the Formula One, netball, and Super Cars. Recently, it added every game of the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, due to Dazn holding the international rights to the tournament.

“Now that we are part of DAZN, there are also opportunities that will set us up for success as part of a global company,” a Foxtel spokesperson told Mumbrella.

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