BBC alum Erik Huggers named chairman at Everyone TV in UK

Erik Huggers

Everyone TV, the organisation behind Freeview and Freesat platforms in the UK, has hired former BBC and Vevo exec Erik Huggers as its chairman.

Huggers will work with the organisation’s board of directors – drawn from its members the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – as well as the senior management team.

He succeeds Caroline Thomson, who is stepping down after more than 10 years in the role.

Huggers holds advisory roles for companies including ProSiebenSat.1, Hexagon, WeTransfer and streaming technology provider MainStreaming, as well as being chairman of Freepik Company.

He left Vevo in 2017 after three years following a stint at Verizon, where he was SVP & president of the OnCue business it had acquired from Intel. Verizon used the service to help develop its now defunct Go90 online video offering.

Prior to Verizon, Huggers developed OnCue at Intel, where he was president of the company’s media division from 2011 to 2014. Before that he led the BBC’s Future Media & Technology division and helped oversee the launch the BBC iPlayer.

Huggers starts the role with immediate effect and will undertake a handover with Caroline Thomson over the course of February.