ABU DHABI - Sky News Arabia announced the appointment of Angelos Frangopoulos as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Editor.
In his new role, Frangopoulos will be responsible for the company's global programming operations for all its broadcast, digital and radio platforms. Sky News Arabia, a 24 hour Arabic language news channel based in Abu Dhabi, is a joint venture between Sky Plc. and ADMIC.
Sky News Arabia is a multi-platform news organisation that delivers Arabic-language news on a free-to-air news channel, website and mobile devices. It is broadcast to 50 million households and employs more than 500 staff across the Middle East, London and Washington.
Frangopoulos joins the company from his current leadership role as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Editor of Australian News Channel (ANC). Under his leadership, ANC has seen dramatic growth developing from a single channel in 2000 into an award-winning and widely acclaimed 11 channel organisation and a stand out performer in audience ratings and financial results. ANC is the leading provider of 24-hour multi-channel, multi-platform news services in Australia operating Sky News Live, Sky News Business, Sky News Weather, Sky News Extra, SkyNews.com.au, FOX SPORTS News, Sky News New Zealand and the Australia Channel OTT service for international markets.
ANC was founded in 1996 as a joint venture between Sky Plc, Nine Network Australia and Seven Network Australia. It was acquired by News Corporation in December 2016.
In his new role, Angelos will be responsible for the strategic direction, business growth, digital expansion, commercial performance and editorial guidelines of the organization. Supported by the Sky News Arabia editorial board, he will also be responsible for setting the editorial direction of the organization. The day-to-day content and news cycle will be headed by recently announced Head of News, Hani Abu Ayyash AbuAyyash, who has been Acting Head of News since January 2018, was recently confirmed as Sky News Arabia’s Head of News and will manage all content production on Sky News Arabia’s TV, website and social media platforms, as well as Sky News radio broadcasting via internet and shortwave.
Sky Plc. Group Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Sky News Arabia, Andrew Grifith, said, "We are delighted that Angelos has taken on this new opportunity at Sky News Arabia. With an extensive track record of expanding businesses, exceptional leadership and driving operational efficiency through innovation, we believe that Angelos is the right fit for Sky News Arabia and will take it to new heights. In just over five years, Sky News has become one of the top news channels in the Middle East and beyond and we look forward to further expanding the channel’s reach as we continue to deliver news to and from the region." Incoming CEO and Managing Editor Angelos Frangopoulos said, "I'm very much looking forward to working with the joint venture partners to grow the company's journalism and business activities across the region and internationally." "Digital innovation is critical to the global growth of any media business, especially so in a region where younger and highly technologically literate audiences are the key demographic," he added.
Frangopoulos is currently Chair of the Walkley Advisory Board, which oversees the annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism, and a trustee of the Walkley Foundation for Journalism. He is also Chairman of the Australia Day Council of NSW, a board member of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Chair of the Centre for Media History at Macquarie University and is Pro-Chancellor (Sydney) at Charles Sturt University.
In 2018 he was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to broadcasting, higher education, the promotion of journalistic standards and services to the community. He was awarded a Doctor of Arts (Honoris Causa) in 2014.
He will join Sky News Arabia later in 2018.
© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2018.
