Sullivan, Sapan and Hollinger top DTVE Euro 50 Awards 2014

Sky Deutschland CEO Brian Sullivan, AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan and Discovery Networks International CEO Mark Hollinger were among the big winners at DTVE’s 2014 Euro 50 awards last night.

Held this year at Amsterdam’s prestigious Hilton Hotel on the second day of Cable Congress, the prize ceremony saw Sky’s Sullivan fight off tough competition from the likes of Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries and BT’s head of television Greg McCall to take home the Industry Leader prize.

The award follows what Sky Deutschland described as a “milestone year”, with 2013 proving the first time the firm reported positive full-year EBITDA.

AMC’s Sapan won the Digital TV Europe Award in recognition of an outstanding contribution
to the success of the pay TV industry, as chosen by the staff of DTVE.

Hollinger, meanwhile, walked away with the lifetime achievement gong ahead of his planned retirement from Discovery in the summer after 23 years of service.

Hollinger first joined Discovery Communications in 1991 and subsequently held numerous leadership roles across the company, including chief operating officer; president global businesses and operations; and senior executive vice president and general counsel.

Most recently, as president and CEO of Discovery Networks International, he has been responsible for the strategic development and daily running of a division that distributes 42 entertainment brands, in 45 languages, to more than 1.6 billion cumulative subscribers in 224 countries and territories across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Other major winners on the night were: Antony Root, executive vice president, original programming and production at HBO Europe, who won the content executive prize; Magine CEO Mattias Hjelmstedt, who took home the digital innovation prize; Arris’ chief technology officer, EMEA, Cornel Ciocirlan, who won the technology leader award; and Ziggo’s vice president of consumer markets and sales, Harry de Haas who was recognised as marketer of the year.