DirecTV confirmed on Wednesday what TheWrap broke on Sunday: CEO Chase Carey will leave the company on July 1 to become the second in command at News Corp, replacing Peter Chernin.
Carey’s official title will be Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer. Based in New York, he will have oversight of News Corp’s global operations.
“Chase has been one of my closest advisors and friends for years and I am delighted we’ll once again be working together across our businesses as we face the challenges and great opportunities ahead,” said News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch in a statement.
A committee is being formed to find a replacement for Carey at DirecTV; in the meantime, Larry Hunter will act as CEO in addition to his current responsibilities of Executive Vice President of Legal, HR, and Administration.
“The past six years have been a phenomenal experience and I am extremely proud of the business we have built,” Carey said in a statement. “DirecTV is in a great place with a tremendously exciting future ahead of it.”
Since taking over as CEO at DirecTV in 2003, Carey is credited with aggressively expanding the reach of the satellite service company in the DVR space, in recruiting high-definition TV customers and in keeping a high-value set of sports properties on its network.
News Corp initially said it would not be replacing Chernin, and Murdoch reshuffled the management structure to give more responsibility to his current executives, including expanding the oversight of Twentieth Century Fox film executives Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, promoting Peter Rice to run entertainment at Fox Broadcasting under Tony Vincequerra, and bringing on Jon Miller to run Fox Interactive.
But people familiar with Murdoch’s thinking said that he did not originally think he could convince Carey to leave DirecTV. Though Carey has been at DirecTV since 2003, Murdoch considers him a News Corp insider. News Corp was a majority shareholder in DirectTV until about 18 months ago, when the company sold its stake.
Carey had served in multiple top management roles at News Corp in the 1990s and beyond. He was the CEO of Fox Television from 1994 to 2000, and was a co-chief operating officer of Fox Entertainment Group from 1998 to 2002. He also served as President and CEO of Sky Global Networks in 2001 and 2002.
He was on the board of directors of News Corp from 2004 to 2007.
