Endemol shuts sports business

MUMBAI: Entertainment programming giant, Endemol, has announced the closure of its international sports business exactly three years after it was launched in January 2009.

Under the restructuring announced by the company on Wednesday, Endemol?s sports content will be brought in line with all other output and managed locally by its operating companies around the world.

The company will continue to pursue further growth in sports entertainment and current productions around the world.

"The reorganisation will bring Endemol?s sports content in line with all other output, coming under the direct management of the group?s operating companies around the world, at local level," the company said in a statement.

Consequence to the restructuring, Endemol Sport managing directors Gregg Oldfield and Lawrence Duffy will leave the company to pursue new ventures.

"Endemol Sport launched in January 2009 and under the management of Gregg and Lawrence has helped establish Endemol as a significant international player in sports entertainment.," the statement added.

The group?s projects around the world currently include the Dutch Premier League ?Eredivisie? channel in the Netherlands, the English Premier League channels for Abu Dhabi Media in the Middle East, The Guinness Football Challenge Pan Africa, TV7 Sport channel inKazakhstan and numerous international media partnerships with sports bodies and football clubs.

Commenting on the restructuring, Endemol Group chief financial officer Just Spee said, ?Endemol?s Sport?s output has grown to a level where we need to bring it in line with how we develop and produce all our other content internationally. This new structure will allow us to continue building our business in this genre whilst delivering the best service to our clients at a local level."

Gregg and Lawrence commented: ?We have enjoyed a fantastic 3 plus years at Endemol and created a valuable and successful sports media business from a standing start. The re-structuring makes sense and we are leaving behind major, award winning sports channels and format productions in Abu Dhabi, Kazakhstan and Africa, as well as genuinely talented sports teams within The Group. We are hugely grateful for the support of our many sports federation clients and we expect to make a further announcement about our future plans shortly.?