Name Randy Freer | ||
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Education Saint Joseph's College of Maine Awards Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Special, Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Playoff Coverage Nominations Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Sports Series, Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Feature People also search for Eric Shanks, Bill Brown, Bill Webb | ||
Reimagining Television: A Conversation With Hulu and Turner
Randy Freer is an American television executive. He was named president and chief operating officer of Fox Networks Group on October 2013. In this position, Freer directly oversees revenue, distribution, and operations for Fox Networks Group, including FOX Broadcasting Company, FOX Sports, FX Networks, Fox International Channels, and National Geographic Channels. He is also responsible for rights acquisitions, and team and league relationships on behalf of FOX Sports. Freer reports to Peter Rice, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Fox Networks Group.
Contents
Prior to being named to his current position, Freer served as Co-President and COO, FOX Sports Media Group, where he focused on growing and enhancing FOX Sports’ prestigious portfolio of league, conference, and team media rights. In recent years, he oversaw the negotiations that led to new long-term agreements with the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, and the USGA, as well as with the Pac-12, Big 12, and Big East Conferences. Freer also played a significant role in Fox’s landmark acquisitions of the World Cup and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Freer’s efforts to bolster FOX Sports’ complement of media rights helped lay the foundation for FOX Sports 1, the company’s new national sports television network, which launched in August 2013.
Accomplishments
Both Business Week and Sports Business Journal have named Freer one of the most influential people in the business of sports on multiple occasions. CableFax Magazine has also named Freer the number-one most powerful executive in local sports television for three consecutive years (2008-2010).
In December 2013, Sports Business Daily named Randy Freer and Eric Shanks the number one most influential people in sports business. "Under the direction of Freer and Shanks, Fox Sports dictated, shaped and in some cases inflated the sports media marketplace in recent years, gobbling up rights in a buildup to the August launches of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2."
Personal
Freer attended Saint Joseph's College of Maine in Standish, ME and graduated with degrees in Business and History in 1982.
Freer joined FSN in 1997 after serving for three years as Senior Vice President, Business Affairs at Active Entertainment, an animation syndication firm. Prior to that, Freer spent nine years at Turner Broadcasting, the last two as Executive Vice President, Entertainment Sales. In that position, Freer was responsible for overseeing all advertising sales for Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) and Turner Network Television (TNT), as well as the Cartoon Network.