Sam Chisholm

Sam Chisholm (AO)
Born	Samuel Hewlings Chisholm 8 October 1939 New Zealand
Died	9 July 2018 (aged 78)
Education	King's College, Auckland
Occupation	Media Executive
Known for	Association with Nine Network Australia and BSkyB in the UK

Samuel Hewlings Chisholm AO (8 October 1939 - 9 July 2018) was a New Zealand born media executive prominent in both Australia and the UK.

Career

Chisholm emigrated to Australia at the age of 20. He became the Sales Director of Kerry Packer's Channel 9 before being appointed Managing Director in 1977. The Network dominated programming, ratings and revenue for the next 15 years.

At the end of 1990, Chisholm accepted an offer from the Executive Chairman of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, to become the Chief Executive at the newly established BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting), formed after the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting. Chisholm remained a director of the Nine Network.

At the time, BSkyB was losing £14million per week. Chisholm renegotiated the Hollywood movie contracts and negotiated the acquisition of the broadcasting rights for England's FA Premier League Football, in a £304 million five-year deal.

By mid 1992, BSkyB posted its first operating profit of £100,000 per week, with £3.8 million per week from subscriptions and £1million per week from advertising. BSkyB gained a million subscribers within a month and became the world's most successful satellite pay television operation.

Chisholm joined the News Corporation Board and was appointed Head of Television outside the U.S. He oversaw the foundation of Foxtel in Australia, Star Television in Hong Kong and a joint venture in German pay TV, Vox.

In October 1994 he presided over the flotation of BSkyB on the London and New York Stock Exchanges. BSkyB was valued at between £4 billion and £5 billion.

Later Life

Chisholm retired from BSkyB in December 1997, but remained a Director for a further two years. During that time, the British Government appointed him Chairman of the New Millennium Experience, responsible for the Millennium Dome project. He returned to Australia in 2000 and was appointed by Telstra the Chairman of Foxtel.

Chisholm was born with an enzyme deficiency (Alpha-1 Anti-Trypsin) which had affected his lungs. After a two-year wait, he received a bi-lateral lung transplant at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney in March 2003.

In 2005 he returned briefly to run the Nine Network, at the request of Kerry Packer.

Chisholm supported numerous medical charities. In 2007, he joined the Board of The Chris O'Brien Lifehouse Cancer Centre and was its Chairman from 2009 to 2012. From 2009 until 2012 he was Chairman of the Federal Government's Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant Authority.

As a young man, Chisholm had worked on his family's farms in the Waikato, New Zealand and had maintained an interest in farming. In 1995 he bought Bundarbo Station, an historic 2600ha property on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River at Jugiong, on the south-west slopes of NSW, where he bred black Angus cattle and sheep.

Awards

In 2004 Chisholm was awarded a Gold Logie and inducted into Australian Television's Hall of Fame.

in 2005, he received the International Honour for Excellence from the International Broadcasting Commission for his global media achievements.

In 2006 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology.

In 2013 he was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) for his corporate leadership and services to medical research and health organisations.

In 2014 he was awarded the King's College Honours Tie in Auckland, New Zealand for outstanding achievement in his selected career.

Personal Life

In 1967 he married Ronda Pearce and their daughter, Caroline, was born in 1970.

In 2002 he married Sue Ward.

Death

Chisholm died on 9 July 2018, after a short battle with an illness, with his wife Sue and daughter Caroline by his side.

External links

• Sam Chisholm at Bloomberg Businessweek
• Sam Chisholm, Return of the great sacker, Raymond Snoddy, The Independent, 5 December 2005