Glen Killane, the former MD of RTÉ Television has been appointed as managing director of eir TV and Sport.
In his new role he will head up eir’s TV business which now includes eir Sport, formerly known as Setanta Sports.
He first joined RTÉ in 1996 – working in RTE Sport as series editor of the Sunday Game, Rugby World Cup, Champions League and International Soccer. He was Group Head of RTE Sport from 2004-2010, where he was responsible for all sports rights negotiations concluding several agreements with GAA, IRFU, 6 Nations, FAI, UEFA, FIFA and the IOC. In 2009, he completed the restructure of RTÉ’s Sport’s output, bringing together radio, television, news and online for the first time.
He has also been a member of the RTE Executive Board since 2010 and oversaw the broadcaster’s centenary project ‘RTE 1916’. He was also responsible for the launch of the children’s channel RTEjr.
According to Jon Florsheim, managing director of eir’s consumer division: “This is a really fantastic appointment for the company and a very strong addition to our TV team. We have significant plans for both our eir Sport brand and our wider eir TV proposition.
“With Glen’s experience I am confident he will drive the development and implementation of our ambitious strategy. We are on a very determined mission to demonstrate that eir really is a changed company –our continued significant national fibre rollout programme, the recent successful launch of eir Sport and today’s announcement of Glen’s appointment are all clear proof points that we are serious about this mission.”
Earlier this week, eir announced the rebranding of Setanata Sports as eir Sport which offers six sports channels, including eir Sport 1 and eir Sport 2; BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2, BT Sport Europe and BT Sport ESPN.
In a separate move, the company also announced that the eir Sports pack would be made available free of charge to its 370,000 broadband customers. Customers can access this content via their TV platform or the device of their choice.
The company also announced that it has secured the exclusive rights to broadcast the next Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, including Ireland’s matches which will be free-to-air. In addition, it has also bagged the rights to the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2017 which will be staged in Ireland.
