Randy Freer (born 1959/1960) is an American television executive, and the former

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

(CEO) of

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...

Early life

Freer attended Saint Joseph's College of Maine in Standish, Maine and graduated with degrees in business and history in 1982.

Career

Freer joined FSN in 1997 after serving for three years as senior vice president, business affairs at Active Entertainment, an animation syndication firm. Prior to that, Freer spent nine years at

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (l ...

, the last two as executive vice president, entertainment sales. In that position, Freer was responsible for overseeing all advertising sales for

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (l ...

(TBS) and

Turner Network Television TNT (originally an abbreviation for Turner Network Television) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery that launched on October 3, 1988. TNT's original purpose wa ...

(TNT), as well as the Cartoon Network. Previously in his career at Fox, Freer served as co-president and COO, FOX Sports Media Group, where he focused on growing and enhancing Fox Sports' portfolio of league, conference, and team media rights. In recent years, he oversaw the negotiations that led to new long-term agreements with the National Football League, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, and the USGA, as well as with the Pac-12, Big 12, and Big East Conferences. Freer also played a significant role in Fox's acquisitions of the World Cup and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Freer's efforts to bolster FOX Sports’ complement of media rights helped lay the foundation for FOX Sports 1, the company's new national sports television network, which launched in August 2013. Prior to joining Hulu, Freer was

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

and CEO of

Fox Networks Group Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual chan ...

, a position to which he was named in October 2013. In this role, Freer directly oversaw revenue,

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

, and

operations Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

for

, including

FOX Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an Television in the United States, American Commercial broadcasting, commercial terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by Fox C ...

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

FX Networks FX Networks, LLC, is a company consisting of a network of cable channels plus a production company and a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content segment of The Walt Disney Company. Originally a part of 21st Century Fox, the comp ...

, Fox International Channels, and

National Geographic Channels National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General E ...

. He was also responsible for rights acquisitions, and team and league relationships on behalf of FOX Sports. Freer reported to Peter Rice, chairman and CEO, Fox Networks Group. Freer was the CEO of Hulu from October 2017 to January 2020 and reported to

Kevin Mayer Kevin Mayer (, or , born 10 February 1992) is a French athlete. He is two-time world champion (2017, 2022), two-time Olympic silver medalist ( 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo) and world record holder in the decathlon. He is also a world an ...

, chairman of

Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), formerly Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI), is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments consisting of Disney's streaming services and overseas media busi ...

. Freer stepped down from his position as CEO after corporate restructuring intended to further integrate Hulu into Disney's direct-to-consumer & international division. Hulu's executives will now report directly to Mayer.

Recognition

Both ''Business Week'' and ''Sports Business Journal'' have named Freer one of the most influential people in the business of sports on multiple occasions. ''CableFax'' Magazine has also named Freer the number-one most powerful executive in local sports television for three consecutive years (2008-2010). In December 2013, Sports Business Daily named Freer and Eric Shanks the number one most influential people in sports business. "Under the direction of Freer and Shanks, Fox Sports dictated, shaped and in some cases inflated the sports media marketplace in recent years, gobbling up rights in a buildup to the August launches of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2." In April 2019, Freer was named one of Business Insider's 100 People Transforming Business.

References

External links

Randy Freer Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freer, Randy Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Fox Broadcasting Company executives Saint Joseph's College of Maine alumni American chief operating officers