Dooya Media Group, the OTT managed services company offering production, management and distribution for AVoD and FAST channels, has announced that Kim Hurwitz has joined the team as Head of Live Sports & Entertainment. Hurwitz’s focus will initially target live sports – especially combat sports – with distribution of free and AVoD main events, preliminary events, and shoulder programming of marquee events on US platforms such as Roku, Freevee, Tubi, Pluto TV and Xumo.

“We’re very excited to have Kim join us and take the lead in building out our live events division,” commented DMG CEO John T. Wells. “This has been Dooya TV’s best year to date, in no small part due to our growth in live. Kim calls herself a serial networker, and it’s true. She not only knows everybody, but she’s also a powerhouse dealmaker.”

Hurwitz has been on the front lines of the evolution of TV ever since she founded SoCalPPV Cable Co-op – a group of 30 MSOs – which took on just-launched DirecTV. She soon became DirecTV’s Director, PPV, with an ongoing $500 million annual P&L. The lone carrier of the UFC, she was there for its relaunch as a sanctioned sport. Before streaming was widely adopted, Hurwitz was already innovating as Chief Content Officer of FilmOn/FOTV, buying and selling global streaming content for the digital MSO, and programming cable and satellite networks. Subsequently, Hurwitz was a founding employee and CMO of Karate Combat. The scope of her role included orchestrating extensive PR campaigns and hiring key talent such as Bas Rutten, Sean Wheelock, Chuck Liddell and Danny Trejo, as well as packaging tie-ins with Fathom Events and Cobra Kai.

Hurwitz then became CMO of FITE, now TrillerTV, whose rebrand exercise she led. She helped grow the global platform from 1.5 million to 8 million registered users of the popular PPV and SVoD service, and saw the firm become a prominent player, regularly setting records on event performance such as the 2020 Tyson vs Jones PPV. That iconic event featured boxing star- to-be Jake Paul. For years, FITE was the first global digital PPV carrier of various celebrity boxing events, as well as SlapFight, IceWars, Pillow Fighting Championship, and the now AEW and BKFC. In addition, Hurwitz launched and grew the FITE Affiliate Programme to over 1,100 media outlets and influencers, executing national tie-ins with major brands, such as T-Mobile. FITE/TrillerTV also has a top Combat channel on multiple OTT outlets, built and managed by Dooya Media Group.

“Timing is everything, and it’s absolutely the right time to properly exploit the myriad benefits of the FAST channel universe for any digital content owners and brands,” said Hurwitz. “I’ve worked with Dooya CEO John Wells at four companies now, so we’re sold on each other’s capabilities and camaraderie. He’s got an incredible array of simple solutions to complex issues that help companies make more revenue and grow their businesses faster.”

Wells added: “Kim’s style meshes perfectly with our business model, which leverages data-driven efficiencies to bring content to market ultra quickly. And because we’ve longstanding relationships with all the major distributors, we’ve got extra flexibility in packaging sponsors, too. She brings smart, high energy, has always been at the forefront of industry trends, and is a reliable catalyst. Kim brings home the win.” 

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Tags: aew, cobra kai, dooya, Karate Combat, ufc