Assuming greater day-to-day operational duties, Dermot McQuarrie has been promoted to the post of senior vice president and assistant general manager at Fox Sports International, officials said last week.
In his new job, McQuarrie will have more responsibility for Fox Sports World, while continuing as executive producer and head of programming for that network, as well as Fox Sports en Español and Fox Sports Latin America.
“With the continual growth of soccer, and the appreciation of soccer in the United States — both through [Major League Soccer] and the European and Latin American soccer — I see my duties being to continue to encourage this growth on the programming side, the promotional side, and the marketing of the channel [Fox Sports World] out to those fans who already watch, and hopefully out to fans who currently don’t watch,” McQuarrie said.
McQuarrie, who had previously served as vice president of programming for Fox Sports International, will continue to report to David Sternberg, executive vice president of emerging networks for Fox Cable Networks and general manager for Fox Sports International.
BRIT TV VET
A British Broadcasting Corp. and Grampian Television veteran, McQuarrie won acclaim when his exclusive report on an oil-rig blowout in the North Sea in 1977 was seen live in 109 countries.
Since joining Fox Sports International in 1997, McQuarrie has played a crucial role in developing and producing original series such as Fox Sports Noticias, Diario Fox Sports, Fox Sports World Report, MLS Wrap and the soon-to-debut Fox Football Friday.
In addition to his domestic responsibilities, McQuarrie also oversees program acquisitions for the Fox Pan American Sports joint venture encompassing Fox Sports-branded networks in Latin America.
McQuarrie said he looks forward to the challenge of having more responsibilities at Fox Sports World.
“There is no doubt in my mind that over the past seven years that I’ve been working for Fox that there has been a constant increase in the awareness of soccer, in the appreciation of it,” he said.
“You’ve only got to look at the commercials that you see nowadays. They’ve got kids in soccer uniforms … you’ll find a soccer ball being involved in commercials as much as, in some cases more, than a baseball or an American football. I believe there’s a great future for World and a channel that’s concentrating on that sport.”
RIGHTS MAVEN
McQuarrie, a native of Scotland, has forged sports-rights deals throughout Latin America and is fluent in Spanish.
On a recent train trip, McQuarrie started talking to a little boy in Spanish.
“His father turned around and asked me in Spanish, 'Are you Argentine?’ I said, 'No I’m Scottish,’” he recalled.
“I’m the only Scotsman that speaks Spanish with an Argentine accent.”
