ITN chief leaves to head BSkyB’s new media arm

ITN has lost a key member of its new media team to BSkyB.

ITN has lost a key member of its new media team to BSkyB.

Owen Pringle, commercial director of ITN’s new media division, is leaving to become marketing controller of BSkyB’s new media operation. Pringle will assume respons ibility for Sky.com and Sky Sports.com, for which BSkyB has major ambitions.

Pringle, who begins the job at the end of July, will look at ways to integrate a range of interactive platforms into Sky’s existing media channels. The company chief executive Tony Ball has said he will invest £250m in this area over the next 12 to 15 months.

Pringle denies his decision to leave was prompted by ITN’s struggle to find a business model that allows it to compete with other online news providers. Both the BBC and Reuters have recently increased their brand building and distribution deals through the Internet.

ITN wants to build on its credentials as a supplier of authoritative video-format news, but it has been hampered by the lack of broadband capacity through Net channels.

BSkyB is “a very big brand”, says Pringle.” You don’t get the opportunity to be part of such a dynamic media operation every day.”

Edited by Robert Dwek