Former Head of Sport at RTÉ, Glen Killane has been promoted to the role of Executive Director of Eurovision Sport. Killane has held the role of Deputy Director since August 2018 and will replace Stefan Kurten in June.
As Deputy Director he led the Eurovision Sports acquisition team which, in recent months, has overseen a series of rights agreement extensions including the extension of an agreement to cover the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana until 2025, one to cover the UEFA Women’s European Championship and the FIFA World Club Cup as well as with Gymnastics and a host of other sports.
Before joining the EBU, Killane was Managing Director of Eir Sport and Eir TV, where he led the launch of their OTT pay sports business and ran the company’s IPTV platform.
He was Managing Director of RTE Television from 2010 until 2016, during which time he was elected Chair of the EBU Television Committee.
Killane began his career as a sports journalist working in editorial positions for RTE and for ITV in London where he was editor of live football.
He was Group Head of Sport for RTE from 2004 until 2010 and was elected as Vice-Chair of the EBU Sports Committee.
Born in Dublin in Ireland, Killane, 48, was educated at Trinity College Dublin where he gained a degree in English Literature and he holds a Masters degree in Journalism from Dublin City University. Glen and his partner Fiona have four children.
Noel Curran, Director-General of the EBU, said: “Glen has a proven track record in Sports broadcasting in the public and private sectors. He understands the digital requirements of Sports Federations in the modern age and remains totally committed to the values of our public service Members.
“I’m looking forward to working with him and all the team to ensure public service media continues to broadcast the best sporting events free-to-all.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Stefan Kürten for his enormous and successful contribution to the EBU and Eurovision Sport over so many years.”
“It is a privilege to be appointed to this position by the EBU and our Members,” added Killane. It’s at times like this that we truly appreciate the value of public service media and I look forward to working with my colleagues and our Members as we recover from this pandemic.”
“I’m also looking forward to working with our partner federations across Europe to overcome the present challenges facing us all and am excited for the day when we can bring great sporting action back to the screens and radio channels of public service broadcasters throughout the continent.”
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