Channel 4 Announces new Sports Commissioning Structure

12 February 2015

 

Channel 4 has confirmed the appointment of Stephen Lyle as Commissioning Editor for Sport.  Lyle, a multi award winning Senior Producer, Editor and Director, will join in March from the BBC where he is currently Series Editor of BBC Match of the Day 2 and Programme Editor on Match of the Day.  He directly replaces Jamie Aitchison who joined Aurora Media at the end of 2014.

The Commissioning Editor role will be responsible for all sport across the portfolio including horseracing and Paralympic sport. The role will report into Ed Havard who has been promoted to Head of TV Events and Sport to reflect the ongoing focus on harnessing the scale of the wider Channel 4 schedule behind sport and major live events.   

Ed Havard, Head of TV Events and Sport said; “I am delighted that Stephen is joining the team. He has an incredible track record for producing major sporting events around the world including both recent Summer and Winter Olympics and the football World Cup. 

The confirmation of these roles comes as Channel 4 begins structuring the wider team for the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Clyde Holcroft has been confirmed as Channel 4’s Creative Director for the Paralympic Games and he will work closely with appointed Producer Sunset + Vine which will be led by Executive Producer Michael Cole.

Holcroft is a leading Executive Producer and Writer who has worked with many of the leading figures in the world of sport, comedy and entertainment and whose most recent projects have seen him executive produce Comic Relief and The British Comedy Awards.

Cole was Executive Producer in Sochi for Sunset +Vine / Channel 4’s coverage of the 2014 Winter Paralympics.  Amongst his other credits he was Executive Producer of last year’s inaugural Invictus Games for BBC Events and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi for BBC Sport. 

Prior to joining the BBC Sport Division, Lyle worked as an Assistant Producer in News and Current Affairs. He received a Royal Television Society Award for Best Live Sports Programme for the 2013 World Athletics Championships for BBC where he was Programme Editor and a BAFTA in 2009 for Best Live Sports Programme, as Senior Producer. He has also written and produced a number of celebrated documentaries including Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Who Ever Lived, The Last Taboo (Sport and Homophobia) and Botham, The Legend of 81.

Ed Havard joined Channel 4 in 2012 as Channel Executive supporting CCO Jay Hunt. He was appointed C4’s Head of TV Events in 2013 and has led on a range of pan-channel programming including Stand Up To Cancer, the Grand National Season and the upcoming Alternative Election Night.