Sky News boss Angelos Frangopoulos to depart to become CEO of Sky News Arabia
The CEO and managing director of Australian News Channel, Angelos Frangopoulos, will depart to take up the same role at Sky News Arabia.
The company says it has already begun a national and international search to replace Frangopoulos in Australia.
Frangopoulos will move to Abu Dhabi
Frangopoulos joined Sky News Australia in 1996 as chief of production, after working as a senior producer with Sky UK in London. he was appointed managing editor in 2000, before being promoted to CEO in 2004.
News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller congratulated Frangopoulos on his latest move and thanked him for his time leading the Australian operation.
“Under Angelos’ stewardship, Sky News has become the country’s most dynamic 24/7 news channel, delivering its highest-ever ratings in the first six months of 2018, while ANC has grown from one channel to 11, to become the leading provider of multi-channel and multi-platform television news services,” he said.
“Angelos is one of Australian media’s most respected and admired leaders whose contribution both to journalism, and the wider community, has been outstanding. His commitment to all aspects of journalism – from education and training, to talent development and creating world-class quality news and business reporting – is unrivalled. This international role recognises the great job he has done here and we are thrilled for him.”
Frangopoulos was integral to the business coming under the complete ownership of News Corp Australia in 2016, the company said, and he also steered the it through milestones including the launch into New Zealand in 2001 and the launches of Sky News Active in 2004, Sky News Business in 2008, the Australian Public Affairs Channel in 2009 and the Australia Channel international news service in 2015.
In May this year, ANC also announced a program supply agreement with the WIN Network to broadcast Sky News content across WIN’s regional free-to-air network on a dedicated channel, ‘Sky News on WIN’.
In June, Nine and ANC announced a joint venture to create ‘Your Money’, a dedicated 24-hour business, personal finance and luxury lifestyle channel which will replace Sky News Business.
Frangopoulos said he was proud of the landmarks reached during his tenure.
“The best 18 years of my career to date have been spent leading this business, so the decision to move on was not an easy one,” he said. “I’m so proud of what we have achieved and look forward to continuing to be inspired from afar by the passion and dedication of the Sky News Australia team. My thanks to News Corp Australia for the support, leadership and faith they have given me, and my team.”
The new role will see Frangopoulos lead Sky News Arabia in Abu Dhabi. The media outfit is a joint venture between ADMIC and UK-based Sky Plc.
The channel delivers Arabic-language news on a free-to-air news channel, website and mobile devices. It is broadcast to 50m households and employs more than 500 staff across the Middle East, London and Washington.
Frangopolos’ departure from Sky News Australia is the latest in a raft of high-profile shuffles in media in recent months.
SBS CEO Michael Ebeid is to depart the multi-cultural broadcaster, and is yet to announce his next move. SBS is also yet to announce its new CEO.
Google too needs a new managing director, after Jason Pellegrino moved to fill the void left by Antony Catalano at Domain.
Anthony Fitzgerald left MCN as CEO earlier this month, replaced by Mark Frain. Fitzgerald’s next move is not yet clear.
Former Yahoo7 boss Ed Harrison has also taken on the CEO position at media monitoring and intelligence company Isentia, following the departure of long-standing boss John Croll.
Angelos started at Sky in 1997 as chief of Production. He took over as Managing Editor in 2000.
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Thanks for flagging, Insider.
I can see Angelos joined ANC in July 1996, five months after its inception, as chief of production. I will correct the wording so it is more accurate.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella