Chris McDonald quits Ten Sports as CEO; Peter Hutton now the COO

Chris McDonald has said goodbye to Ten Sports as CEO. Peter Hutton now takes on the post of COO from May 1, 2009. McDonald has cited personal reasons for quitting Ten Sports. However, he has decided to move into an advisory role for the company by the end of April 2009.

On the other hand, Peter Hutton has been elevated to Chief Operating Officer, Taj Television, beginning May 1, 2009. He will be working in close coordination with Himanshu Mody of Zee and Dr Bhaskar Banerjee of Bukhatir Investments Ltd.

In a prepared statement, McDonald said, “Creating and running Taj TV/ Ten Sports was a dream come true, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. It will be hard not to be a part of the everyday buzz that surrounds Ten Sports, but I am excited that the shareholders of Taj TV would like me to continue in an advisory role and be engaged in various projects.”

“Taj TV is very fortunate to have someone of the calibre of Peter Hutton to pick up the ball. He is an extremely talented and competent executive, and I could not be more confident of Taj TV’s future success with him at the helm,” he added.

Hutton had joined Taj TV in early 2002, and currently serves as its Senior Vice President, Programming and Production. Prior to Taj TV, he was with IMG/TWI as Co-Head for South Asia.

Taj TV’s Ten Sports is available in more than 60 million cable/satellite homes worldwide. The world’s biggest producer, distributor and broadcaster of cricket, the channel televises cricket from West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai throughout the Indian Sub-continent and Asia, as well as to the US and Canada (Cricket Plus), Continental Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.