ESPN has elevated Burke Magnus to senior vice president, college sports programming, assuming many of the responsibilities for the retiring Chuck Gerber.
In his new role, Magnus, who had been serving as vice president and general manager of college sports network ESPNU, is responsible for the strategic direction of college football, college basketball and NCAA championships on the various ESPN platforms. Those tasks includes the acquiring and scheduling of programming across ESPN on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360.com, ESPN Classic and more. He will also manage the company’s relationships with college rights-holders, such as the NCAA and conferences.
Magnus reports to John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, programming acquisitions and strategy.
Gerber, with ESPN since 1993, most recently as executive vice president, college sports programming, is retiring on April 11. In recent years,Gerber has been instrumental in securing long-term agreements with several conferences including the Big Ten, Big 12 and Big East, and a key driver for ESPNU and ESPN Regional Television.
He is joining the Southeastern Conference as a TV consultant. The SEC has been reportedly been considering starting its own regional sports network, a la the Big Ten Network.
