Premier League Soccer Taps TV Executive as Its First Female CEO

(Bloomberg) -- The Premier League appointed Discovery Inc. veteran Susanna Dinnage as its new chief executive officer, making her the first woman to run the U.K.’s most prestigious soccer competition.

Dinnage, who is currently the global president of Discovery’s “Animal Planet’’ brand, will start the role early next year, the Premier League said in an emailed statement. She succeeds the current executive chairman Richard Scudamore.

Dinnage is set to take the role at a crucial time for the Premier League, which is looking to continue to boost revenues from selling broadcast rights after a weaker-than-expected haul at the most recent auction in February. She’s also tasked with taking the Premier League into the digital age, and her tenure will coincide with the first broadcast of the league’s matches by Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video service.

“She is ideally suited to the role and we are confident she will be able to take the Premier League on to new heights,” Bruce Buck, chairman of Chelsea FC and the League’s Nominations Committee, said in the statement. “Susanna was the outstanding choice given her track record in managing complex businesses through transformation and digital disruption.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Nick Turner, Kim Robert McLaughlin

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