Comcast Poaches David Rhodes From Murdoch Stable

Comcast Corp. has hired David Rhodes to lead international business development at Sky, a year after the executive moved to London to head Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. TV business, Bloomberg reports. 

Rhodes will report to Andrea Zappia, Sky’s chief executive officer for new markets and businesses, said a Sky spokesman, who confirmed the appointment in response to a question from Bloomberg.

David Rhodes

Murdoch brought Rhodes over from the U.S. last year to spearhead a review of News Corp.’s operations in the country, which included studying a potential launch of a TV news service that some saw as a potential counterpart to the U.S. Fox News network. His team ultimately concluded it wouldn’t make sense to launch a traditional cable news business in the market, and he was destined to move to another role in June.

U.S. cable giant Comcast bought Sky in 2018 for $39 billion, extending its media empire to major European markets like Britain, Germany and Italy. Sky has been pouring money into original content to try to stop viewers drifting away to the streaming services of Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Walt Disney Co.

Rhodes previously held senior roles at CBS, Fox News and Bloomberg TV.