Fox Sports Loses David Hill, More NASCAR on DirecTV?

Rupert Murdoch on Thursday tapped his longtime go-to guy, David Hill, to become president of the newly created DirecTV Entertainment group, with a goal of jazzing up the satellite television giant's offerings. One of sports' most influential executives, Hill will remain chairman of the Fox Sports Television Group but will give up day-to-day management duties. News Corp. owns Fox and is DirecTV's largest shareholder. The 58-year-old Hill will join El Segundo-based DirecTV Group Inc. on April 11 and report to DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey. At Fox Sports, Hill earned a reputation for innovation. He instituted such flourishes as fixed scoreboards at the bottom of the screen, the yellow first-down line in professional football and "Catcher Cam" for Major League Baseball games. He also is credited with developing NASCAR's popularity as a television sport. Now, Hill said he planned to augment DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket package, which has about 2 million subscribers. He also is contemplating more shows about the action surrounding a NASCAR race, "the behind the scenes stuff that you never see." His continued presence with Fox Sports will allow him to integrate more of Fox's offerings into DirecTV, the company said. LA Times