Amazon has added to its growing sports presence, by recruiting former ESPN Executive Vice-President Marie Donoghue to its team as vice president of sports video.
The announcement comes as the online giant prepares for another season screening "Thursday Night Fooball" NFL games on its platform and as Amazon Prime members in the U.K. and Ireland watch Grand Slam exclusive tennis coverage from the U.S. Open in New York.
Donoghue spent 17 years with ESPN and was a key member in the success of its "30 For 30" documentary series and also earned a credit as executive vice president, global strategy and original content on the Oscar-winning documentary "O.J.: Made in America" in 2016. She left ESPN last year and has now joined Amazon to push its sports content.
Amazon's long-form sports documentary portfolio has been growing in recent months. English soccer team Manchester City's eight-part "All Or Nothing" series launched in August. Showcasing a record-breaking season, the club became the first in the Premier League to reach 100 points. A behind the scenes four-part show following the World Cup-winning France soccer team will be available on Amazon Prime later this year.
Unlike rival Netflix, Amazon has actively chosen to pursue more live sports content and has won the rights to show Premier League soccer from December 2019. The specific details of that deal will for the first time enable soccer fans with access to Prime to watch a full match-day program of all 10 games from the English Premier League twice during the season.