Eleven Sports, the international subscription broadcaster, has hired Stefaan Kestens from telecoms firm Telenet as head of revenues and acquisitions in Belgium.
He joins the broadcaster after spending 11 years at Telenet where he had a key role in acquiring sports broadcast rights for the company.
Kestens was also responsible for overseeing Telenet’s Play Sports platform.
Last year, Guillaume Collard left his role as managing director and group chief rights acquisitions and distribution officer at Eleven to become chief executive of RTL Belgium, a division of the international commercial broadcasting giant.
In July, Eleven promoted Massimo D’Amario to replace Collard as managing director in Belgium and Luxembourg.
The pay-TV broadcaster’s biggest rights agreement in Belgium is a five-year deal for domestic soccer’s top-flight Pro League worth €103 million ($109.3 million) per season. The contract runs until the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
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By GlobalDataWith just one more year to run on that deal after this season, Kestens will be tasked with negotiating a renewal soon.
Kestens has experience in negotiating rights deals with the Pro League as Telenet was one of several domestic rightsholders prior to Eleven.
The telecoms firm subsequently agreed a distribution deal with Eleven to continue showing the Belgian top-tier.
Eleven’s portfolio in the country also includes the German Bundesliga, France’s Ligue 1, Spain’s LaLiga, the NFL, NBA, and UFC.
DAZN Group, the global sports media firm and parent company of the sports streaming service, recently secured an agreement to acquire the Eleven Sports business and its digital content company Team Whistle.