ESPN Needs 5 Subs to Take Place of Former Starting Programming Director

The sports broadcasting company appointed five executives earlier this week to lead wide-ranging areas comprising its programming and production efforts.
By Laura Sanicola ,

Disney's (DIS) - Get Report sports broadcasting unit ESPN appointed five executives earlier this week to lead the wide-ranging areas comprising its programming and production efforts, all reporting to ESPN President John Skipper.

The five are set to replace John Wildhack, who served as executive vice president, programming and production, as he prepares to step out of the network in order to take up a job as the athletic director of Syracuse University, his alma mater.

Mike Soltys, a spokesperson at ESPN, said Tuesday that the move is not part of a larger restructuring. Rather, the company said, it believes five people are needed to do Wildhack's job.

"It is a reflection of the scope of the operation and the ability of the people on the team who can do that," he said in a phone interview.

The sports broadcasting company is embattled with a loss of 3.2 million subscribers in barely more than a year as more households cut their cable cords or taking packages that exclude the expensive network. ESPN has eliminated some of its on-air talent in cost-reducing measures.

Most recently, ESPN reportedly agreed recently to acquire a one-third stake in Major League Baseball's video streaming unit, and negotiate with large online distribution companies to carry its programming.

The negotiations are also believed to include Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report and Facebook (FB) - Get Report , which are looking to up their live programming coverage.

Here's who is replacing the long-time EVP of programming.

Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust, is long FB.

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