Sky grows Murphy’s entertainment role

UK satcaster BSkyB has expanded Sky1 HD chief Stuart Murphy’s responsibilities to include all of its entertainment channels in a restructure that also sees the promotion of Sky Arts director James Hunt.

Stuart Murphy

Hunt and fellow channel directors Naomi Gibney (Sky Atlantic) and Jane Johnson (Sky Living) will now report to Murphy, who has added the position of entertainment channels director to his roles as director of Sky1 HD and commissioning.

Meanwhile, Hunt becomes director of entertainment production, replacing Barbara Gibbon, who has moved across to Sky Creative as director of production and operations.

Murphy continues to report to MD of entertainment, news and broadcast Sophie Turner-Laing, who said Sky1 had become “a true destination channel” under his watch over the past three years.

Murphy’s commissions have included travelogue comedy An Idiot Abroad and a host of successful UK comedies as the News Corp-backed satcaster continues with its plan to invest £600m (US$972m) in home-grown content each year by 2014. Upcoming shows include David Attenborough 3D doc Kingdom of Plants and new drama Sinbad.

“Getting Sky1 HD to where we are today was a real team effort and I can’t wait to work with Sophie, the channel heads, the commissioning heads and the indie community to look at how we take the entertainment channels to the next phase,” said Murphy.